Founder Smart - Startup Podcast Susanne Mitschke & Patrick Renner

In this Episode, Susanne & Patrick, and I talking to Cooper Jones, co-founder, and CEO of Rah Rah. Rah rah is a platform that helps college students to make sense of campus life and, for example, book activities and services. Cooper and his co-founder started their entrepreneurial journey with Rah Rah while being still employed at Accenture. They took a leap of faith, quit their jobs and Cooper even liquidated his retirement savings plus took on a loan to start Rah Rah. This is what I call skin in the game. Cooper talks about how he got started when he knew it was time to quit his job and how he raised $2.8 million from Angels. If this is the first time listening to foundersmart, we make podcasts about entrepreneurship that are fun and informative. Hit subscribe so that you don’t miss any of our episodes and consider giving us 5 stars. And now without further due, give it away to Cooper Jones of Rah Rah.

Just imagine, you graduated from Harvard in Theology and become a pastor. And then, you leave everything behind and start a software company that is providing language and translation services. You raise venture capital, move from Texas to California and are all in on your start-up. From pastor to start-up founder sounds crazy to you? Well, this is exactly what Josh Daneschfruuz, co-founder and CEO of Lango did! Josh talks to us about how he found his first customers and how he managed to raise a seed round of $2 million US dollars, and also why the path he took from pastor and entrepreneur is actually not that far apart as we might think.

Thank you for tuning into Founder Smart. Your podcast about entrepreneurship. Finding the right co-founder, and validating your idea without spending a fortune are two topics that are really important for anyone who is getting serious about starting their own business. The one question I always get when I talk about my journey as an entrepreneur is: how did you meet your co-founders and where can I find my co-founder? This week, we talked to Alessandra Henderson, CEO, and co-founder of Elektra about how she met her co-founder, how she validated her start-up idea, and what it means to run a company smashing the taboo of menopause.

Hello and welcome to another founder smart episode. Today, we’re talking to Todd Heine a successful US immigration attorney turned founder! Forbes Magazine crowned Todd the US Visa Whisperer, as he helped many founders with their work visa. Todd is now going strong with his company Legalpad, and recently raised a $10 million Series A. In this episode, Todd will give us some hints which Visas may be a fit for foreign founders who want to start their company in the US; he also talks about his fundraising process - he raised $10 million - he knows how to do that - and also shares his wisdom of hiring the right team members. Have fun with this episode!

It’s Wednesday and you know exactly what’s coming: a new episode of founder smart! Today, our guest is Jose Herrera, co-founder, and CEO of Hire Horatio. Jose is talking about how his job at Wall Street prepared him to run his startup. Horatio also made money from day one, so he and his co-founders had their destiny in their own hands and didn’t have to rely on investors giving them money to build and grow their startup. Now, Horatio has 200 employees and is going from strength to strength. 

Welcome to another founder smart episode, this time with Daniela Corrente, who is the CEO & co-founder of Reel, a fintech startup that helps consumers to save up, so that they don’t have to take on debt when they shop. In this episode, Daniela explains that Reel was initially just a side hustle and why she decided that Reel was something she wanted to do full time eventually. As an entrepreneur who raised millions for her start-up, she will also talk about how she approached fundraising and how she transitioned her team from the HQ office in Los Angeles to a company with a remote working culture. If this is the first time listening to our podcast, Patrick and Susanne are entrepreneurs based out of Los Angeles in the United States. We make podcasts about entrepreneurship that are informative and cover founder and investor stories. If you like our podcast, please subscribe so that you don’t miss any of our future episodes and now have fun with Daniela’s story!