Behind the Stand Alice Zhao

From a Cherry Coke empire to venture capital, Jay is a partner at Rhino Ventures who invests in high growth, early stage companies in Western Canada. Previously an entrepreneur himself, Jay is able to provide insightful advice for first time founders curious about how to leverage VC funds and accelerate their startup growth!

Corner office job to around the world tickets to fundraising over $19 million dollars, Jason is a 5 time serial entrepreneur who first made double digit millions when he sold his bootstrapped venture in his twenties!

As a first generation immigrant from Hong Kong, Melissa used her grit, perseverance and sheer drive to move up from her first job as a receptionist to selling her first company before the age of 35.

At one point Melissa only had 90 days of runway and hundreds of thousands of dollars in crippling debt. But she didn’t give up. She pushed through the most difficult parts of her life to get to build the freedom she has today.

Today, Melissa has a new venture [eWebinar](https://ewebinar.com/). eWebinar's mission is similar to her own, to enable people to live the life they want, by giving people back their time.

As a child, Mariana Konsolos used jewelry to hide deep, personal insecurities about her body.  Later in life, with only $500 in her pocket, she turned her insecurities into a fashion accessory business that enabled her to retire at 48 and travel the world. Today, Mariana is a mentor in the UBC CORE Entrepreneurship program.  Her mission in life is to inspire everyone to dare to live their life to the fullest!

Welcome to Behind the Stand. A podcast that inspires us all to dream like a kid. 

Every other week we highlight stories of grit, failure, and passion from people behind great ventures in pocket-sized episodes.