Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕

George Khalife
  • 5.0 (25)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Let's Grab Coffee Podcast ☕

Uncovering the entrepreneurial journey's of up and coming startup founders, over coffee

  1. 12/10/2024

    #160 - Shawn Ellis | Inside a $100M Fund Investing in the Future of Risk

    Shawn Ellis is the Managing Partner of Distributed Ventures. He co-founded and manages the fund. Prior to Distributed Ventures, Shawn built and lead NFP Ventures, a captive early-stage venture fund sponsored by NFP Corp, the diversified insurance brokerage. Shawn’s investment approach leverages diverse operational, strategic and investment experience. Previously, as President and founding team member of Zest Health, he led the company’s growth from concept to over half a million paid subscribers and partnerships with several health plans less than three years. Zest was eventually rebranded as Yaro and acquired by Virgin Pulse. Prior to Zest, Shawn focused on healthcare technology investments at 7wire Ventures. He was a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and began his career at Lazard Middle Market’s M&A practice. Shawn holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and a board member of the Linden Foundation. -- Time stamps: [0:00 - 1:51]: Introduction [1:51 - 12:25]: Lessons from IB, strategy, and consulting [12:25 - 16:07]: How to crack into VC [16:08 - 19:47]: Tips for relationship building/networking [19:47 - 25:17]: Investing in the future of risk [25:17 - 28:33]: Thoughts on corporate venture capital [28:34 - 30:51]: Building Distributed Ventures [30:52 - 34:02]: What makes a stand-out founder [34:02 - 37:24]: Dealing with pressure & mental health [37:24 - 41:10]: Navigating burnout [41:10 - 43:15]: Being bullish on Chicago [43:16 - 45:45]: 2025 outlook

    46 min
  2. #159 - Chris Crawford | Making Prescription Drug Costs Affordable

    11/12/2024

    #159 - Chris Crawford | Making Prescription Drug Costs Affordable

    Chris Crawford founded RxSaveCard to make prescriptions more affordable for employers and employees. With over 25 years in employee benefits, including leadership roles at Mercer and experience in pharmacy benefits, Chris created RxSaveCard to offer cash and discount pricing without requiring a switch in benefit providers. His solution ensures compliance with ERISA fiduciary standards while helping companies manage drug costs effectively. For more on RxSaveCard: rxsavecard.com To connect with Sean:   / chris-crawford-0a86424

    52 min

  3. 09/05/2024

    #158 - Sean Johnson | Proven Marketing Strategies for Professional Services

    Madison was started by Sean Johnson. For 12 years he was a founding partner at Manifold, an early stage venture fund and innovation consulting firm. For 9 years he taught digital marketing at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Sean learned the hard way how difficult it can be to market a professional services firm. Much of the playbook he learned working with startups simply didn't apply. He eventually learned how to turn himself and his team into Trusted Advisors who could build relationships and develop trust at scale. He codified those lessons into the Madison Playbook, and teaches other professional services firms how to do the same. Madison | We Market Professional Services Firms (hiremadison.com)

    55 min

  4. 07/19/2024

    #157 - Samara Hernandez | Journey from Mexico to $52M VC Fund

    Samara Hernandez is the founder of C******a Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in overlooked and underrepresented founders. Born in Mexico and raised in Rogers Park, Chicago, Samara's early life was marked by her family's hard work and resilience. She earned an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and worked at Goldman Sachs during the Great Recession, gaining valuable experience in finance. Samara later pursued an MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business, which led her to a role at MATH Venture Partners. There, she made significant contributions, including leading the investment in Liveoak Technologies, which was later acquired by DocuSign. In 2019, Samara launched C******a Ventures, raising $6 million for her first fund and raised $52M in 2022 for her second fund. Her mission is to be the first check for founders and companies that don't fit the traditional mold, with a particular focus on empowering women and minority entrepreneurs.

    53 min

  5. 07/05/2024

    #156 - Andrew Sykes | The Power of Habits & Building Trust

    Andrew Sykes leads the Habits at Work team and is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is also part of the Kellogg Sales Institute Executive Education Team, where he teaches the award-winning course "Entrepreneurial Selling," ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the "Top Ten" courses in the United States. With a 30-year career as a salesperson, entrepreneur, speaker, and behavior change expert, Andrew began by building one of South Africa’s largest healthcare consulting companies. He co-authored "The 11th Habit," a book that distills the work of the Behavioral Research and Applied Technology Laboratory (BRATLAB). This research aims to understand which habits are crucial for sustained high performance, competitive differentiation, trust building, and organizational growth, and focuses on helping people practice these habits.

    52 min

  6. 06/06/2024

    #155 - Mike de Vere | How Zest AI, a Fintech Breakthrough, is Making Fair Credit Accessible

    As an executive at Zest AI, Mike has made it the company’s mission to leverage AI in consumer credit underwriting to build financial equity and create a better, richer, and fuller life for all. In his 25 years prior experience to Zest AI, Mike focused on amplifying the voice of consumers to governments and businesses through organizations like Nielson, Harris Interactive, and JD Power. His experiences converge to show his capacity to lead organizations in translating data into insights that enable the betterment of consumers’ lives.

    42 min

  7. 04/27/2024

    #154 - Victor Pascucci III | Pioneering Venture Capital at the Forefront of Natural Gas Innovation

    Vic is a successful venture capitalist with 19+ years of broad professional experience. Top decile performing track record. Extensive ESG, digital transformation, fintech and Insurtech investing experience. Diverse background with Fortune 130 and early-stage venture companies. Complementary leadership roles in corporate strategy/ transformation and as general counsel. Specialties: Energy/ utilities, natural gas, green molecule innovation, fintech, insurtech and financial services technology. Over $650M in venture capital and M&A transactions. Created and executed corporate development function including $330M strategic venture capital program. Led the design and implementation of enterprise wide strategy and transformation programs. To connect with Vic: LinkedIn To learn more about ECV: Website -- If you're enjoying these conversations, make sure to like & subscribe to continue following along!

    42 min

  8. 03/06/2024

    #153 - Gale Wilkinson | Demystifying Investing, The Path to Inclusive Venture Capital

    Gale Wilkinson is the Managing Partner at VITALIZE, early-stage fund & angel community investing in WorkTech startups. Gale is also revolutionizing angel investing through VITALIZE Angels, the largest inclusive angel group globally. She actively supports emerging talents in the VC sector via The VITALIZE Podcast and contributes to diversity in tech and VC as a board member of Chicago:Blend. A Kauffman Fellow and member of prestigious networks like OnDeck, Recast, and Oper8r, Gale resides between Chicago and Nashville, alongside her husband and two dogs. For more on VITALIZE: https://www.vitalize.vc/ For more on Gale: https://gale.vc/

    43 min
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5
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25 Ratings

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Uncovering the entrepreneurial journey's of up and coming startup founders, over coffee

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