Finding Founders

Tricia Sugita at one point was one of the top Starcraft players in the world. This led to her getting offers to play professionally, and even an early recruitment to stream on JustinTV which would eventually become Twitch. This ascent to the top of the gaming world started early with competitions between her and her brothers. Her natural competitiveness led her to hone her video game skills until she could easily dominate her much older siblings. Fast forward to her college years and early adulthood, and Tricia became a serious competitive gamer and a pioneer in the now ubiquitous world of streaming, becoming an early twitch partner. Now the CEO of her own esports organization FlyQuest, Tricia strives to imbue positivity, happiness, and sustainability in all she does.UPDATE: Just a heads up, at the time we recorded this episode Tricia was the CEO of Flyquest but in the time since we've talked, she's now working at Cloud9 as their Chief Marketing Officer! On behalf of the FF team, we'd like to extend a big congrats to her. Now let's get on with the episode... Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Originally from Pakistan, Ammar Belal grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. His father ran one of the biggest textile manufacturers in the country, but his parents wanted him to have a global perspective. Cycling through Boston, Geneva, and Lahore throughout his childhood, Ammar always lived an unconventional life. When he finished school he was slated to inherit his father's empire, but 9/11 changed the trajectory of the business completely. He was witnessing a failing company. Ammar diverged from the set path and decided to pursue fashion, starting Bespoke Denim and then ABCD athleisure. He then started the first luxury menswear in Pakistan to great success, expanding to 5 retail outlets throughout the cities and winning national design awards for his work. Still, Ammar found himself unfulfilled and pivoted once again. This time, he found himself at Parsons School of Design as one of 18 applicants accepted to the renowned MFA program. Inspired by sustainable social-impact brands, he started ONE432, a trailblazing company known for its inspiring business model-one that donates 50% of its proceeds to funding female artisans and education in Pakistan. Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don recalled the struggle of keeping family-owned businesses alive under the shadow of multi-million dollar hotel chains. And we wanted to look at this industry, hospitality in particular, to understand one of its unique subcultures. Today we are talking to Don Martine and Cassandra Hazen, founders of California Association of Boutique and Breakfast Inns–better known as CABBI. This organization ensures these beautiful authentic hospitality experiences can continue to exist and thrive. But before Don & Cassandra built CABBI from the ground up, Don was involved with a different kind of project: remodeling the run-down Parkes Mansion.Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy Le is the co-founder of Ismahawk, a production company and youtube channel with over 100 million views. This channel started years ago when Jeremy was a twenty-something-year-old kid who wanted to dabble in some 3D work. Though initially the dream was modest, as he refined his skills, the opportunities grew and grew. Throughout the years, Jeremy and his team honed their editing skills, creative energies, and channeled them into their carefully-made series involving the comic superheroes they love. But right now, we’re going to look back to where this all started: a school-yard bully and a belief in doing the right thingSubscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jen Levy grew up in a family and religious school environment that emphasized the importance of philanthropy. After realizing her twenty-year-long career as a teacher wasn’t quite fulfilling her, she decided to combine her love of education with her passion for farming. She moved to Ohio to learn all about the industry. Then, she moved back home to Beverly Hills where she co-founded Beverly Hills Community Farm in 2020. Over the course of the pandemic, BHCF pivoted toward addressing food insecurity in surrounding communities during the pandemic. They opened their commercial space in Beverly Hills in 2021, where they use vertical hydroponics to grow fresh produce and make it their mission to teach others to grow food locally themselves. Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nina Lu is an 18-year-old actress best known for her role in Disney Channel's hit series Bunk’d. Although she became pretty famous during her heyday, Nina never intended to become an actress. But when she was approached in the mall one day, her interest was piqued. She began taking acting classes, and fairly quickly landed Bunk’d. Since then, she has appeared in various shows and films. Now Nina balances acting work & her TikTok career with her studies at USC. She launched her TikTok in the middle of the pandemic and has already accumulated nearly 3 million followers! Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having known each other since they were teenagers, Christian, Erika, And Josh began their podcast, The Judgies, as a fun experiment in June of 2020. Since then their podcast has grown exponentially! They’ve found massive success on TikTok with over 40 million views a month and are coming up on 1 million followers. And that growth has translated to the podcast which regularly hits the top charts. Although they’re still working their full-time jobs, they’ve been able to create a dedicated and engaged audience base and it seems like in the near future they might be doing the podcast full time. But let’s take it back and start at the beginning of this creative journey… Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Therese got into beekeeping by randomly attending a beekeeper's seminar, and realized this is kinda weird but also kind cool. Initially, Adam supported the hobby as he watched fearfully out the window... but slowly he learned to help. After a long career in the service industry, 40 year old Adam Novicki decided to drop everything and pursue a career with the bees. He pursued a Masters in plant science and eventually started T&A Farms in 2009. Therese & Adam now sell their honey all over and even started selling grain. Their story shows that it's never too late to turn a passion into a career.Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, myths such as psychedelics “create holes in your brain” or that they remain buried in your system forever have incited fear and opposition from the general public. However, cutting-edge research by scientists like Cole has been slowly deconstructing that narrative, paving the way for psychedelics to enter the mainstream medical scene. Cole Marta is the founder of the California Center for Psychedelic Therapy, a clinic in Southern California that is spearheading the use of drugs such as MDMA and psilocybin to treat advanced mental health disorders. Convinced by the healing benefits of psychedelics, Cole and his team are working hard to figure out how to harness drugs like MDMA to serve those suffering from trauma and mental illness. As we follow Cole’s journey, we’ll grapple with the stigmas surrounding psychedelics and explore the consequences of abusing them versus using them safely. We’ll also dance around the concept of time, within our lives and within psychedelic trips, and try to understand how it expands, contracts, and doubles back on itself. But in order to understand Cole’s work as a psychiatrist, we first need to understand how his views on psychedelics formed.https://psychedelictherapyca.com/Subscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine: Shark Spray from a Helicopter, underwear costumes, and cheesy effects. While Patrick looks back on Batman (1966) with a laugh, he can’t help but credit it as the start of his love of film. Boasting 355K subscribers and 39 million views to date, Patrick Willems is a video essayist and film critic on YouTube. With videos such as “What if Wes Anderson Directed X-Men?” or “Why do Marvel’s Movies Look Kind of Ugly?”, Patrick has found his share of success and self-fulfillment from infusing a personal splash of creativity into his videos. But his path wasn’t an easy one — he experienced a handful of rejections, setbacks, and difficult self-reflections along the way.https://www.youtube.com/c/patrickhwillemsSubscribe to our Newsletter!https://findingfounders.co/subscribeWebsite: findingfounders.coFollow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices