Young Founders Podcast

Young Founders

A podcast that talks about the trials and tribulations, as well as the triumphs, of building a business at a young age.

Episodes

  1. 05/14/2020

    Marina McCoy (Founder & CEO @ Waste Free Earth)

    Marina has been living zero-waste for the past six years and loves sharing her enthusiasm for waste reduction with anyone willing to learn. She was named a pioneer and expert in her field by the Burlington Free Press In March 2020, she was awarded Vermont's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Nominated for 1% For The Planet's Pinnacle Award: Unleash Passion Every Day. Her company, Waste Free Earth, uses an interdisciplinary yet balanced approach to creating a fully sustainable model for their clients through the implementation of three essential frameworks: environmental stewardship economic prosperity social responsibility She also creates sustainability-focused content for brands through writing blog posts, creating social media posts, cultivating mindful engagements on websites and being a spokesperson for certain brands that align with her values. In her free time, you can find her in the mountains, volunteering, or making waste-free dinners with friends. You can follow Marina at: IG: @sustainabilitybosslady Podcast points: ✔️ How did her sustainable movement company start? ✔️ When did Marina go from a volunteer to realizing that this is a valid business that she wants to grow? ✔️ The importance of client relationships in growing your business. ✔️ Building a business, and the importance of scaling and pricing your services. ✔️ Pivoting your business during the pandemic and managing client expectations. Check out more episodes at theyoungfounders.com

    Marina McCoy (Founder & CEO @ Waste Free Earth)

  2. 03/22/2020

    Maia Bittner (Co-Founder @ RocksBox, Pinch)

    Maia Bittner is a  serial entrepreneur, investor, and social media influencer. She's been a cofounder at RocksBox, a subscription Jewelry company, and Pinch, a financial services app (which was later acquired by Chime). She's also an advisor to Parcel B, an investment fund supporting startups founded by students and alumni at her alma mater, Olin College. She’s been featured in the Wall St Journal, Huffington Post, Forbes, TechCrunch, CheddarTV, Crunchbase, Lifehacker, and more. She’s also been featured on a bunch of great podcasts, including Chicks Who Give a Hoot, Crazy Wisdom, and Bank On It. At RocksBox, Maia and her co-founder Meaghan Rose were able to raise ~$15m, despite the challenges of raising capital in San Francisco as a pair of female co-founders targeting women customers. Later, at Pinch, she raised a pre-seed round of close to $1m with her cofounder, Michael Ducker. You can follow Maia on Twitter at @maiab. Some of the things we talk about on the podcast are: What does it mean to find Product Market Fit (PMF) and how can you work towards that?  How to use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to improve customer experience.  How to decide which investors to pitch your idea to.  Why you shouldn't always listen to industry standard advice and how A/B testing helped RocksBox grow.  Why sometimes founders need to throw in the towel and move on to something else.  Check out more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast.

    Maia Bittner (Co-Founder @ RocksBox, Pinch)

  3. 01/28/2020

    Jason Levinthal (Founder @ J-Skis, LINE)

    Jason Levinthal, or JLev as you may know him, is a professional skier turned serial entrepreneur. He’s the guy who founded LINE Skis, Full Tilt Boots, and now J Skis. He’s been featured in FreeSkier Magazine, Powder Magazine, BombSnow, New Schoolers, and more. He was named a top 40 under 40 professional in the sporting goods industry by Sporting Goods Business Magazine in 2010. Jason was a bronze medalist in the 1998 X Games, gave a TED talk in 2015, and has sold over half a million pairs of skis. You can find him on social media @jasonlevinthal, follow J skis @j_skis, and grab a pair of limited edition sticks at jskis.com. Check out more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast and be sure to subscribe on the podcasting platform of your choice.

    Jason Levinthal (Founder @ J-Skis, LINE)

  4. 12/12/2019

    Zeke Tierkel (Co-Founder & CEO, Pure Investments)

    Zeke is the co-founder and CEO of Pure Investments, a cryptocurrency investment community and content publishing company based in Burlington, VT. Zeke was a sophomore at Champlain College when he founded Pure Investments, which attracted 10,000 users within their first year in business. He and his co-founder Miles placed third in the 2018 LaunchVT Collegiate pitch competition and have built a team of analysts and content creators in the crypto niche and have been able to monetize their audience through paid memberships for premium content. Some of the things Nate, Zeke and I talked about on this episode of the Young Founders Podcast: How he built Pure Investments from $0 to $60,000/m in recurring revenue in less than 18 months. How online networking sparked a relationship with his co-founder If you have an idea, don't just let it be an idea. Turn it into something that's tangible. Make it a reality. All you have to do [as an entrepreneur] is take that first step. Once you take that first step all the other steps are a lot easier because you've already got the ball rolling. The worst that can happen is you fail– and that's a really great thing to happen. Kickstarting their business with content marketing How he juggles running a company with college classes and social activities Building and selling long-boards in high school It's crazy. We didn't see it as ever becoming a company. [We were just] doing it for fun on the side. Building a Discord community and the pros and cons of Discord as a platform Why you shouldn't take money from VCs His biggest mistake: outsourcing product development overseas We did a lot of marketing in the right places. How the Pure Investment team stays connected with a remote workforce using Slack as a communication tool Customer segmenting Generating subscriptions and revenue through referrals and word of mouth We wrapped up the podcast with a testimonial for Pure Investments: Pure Investments is the best investment community I've ever joined. The calls the staff give are top-notch backed with solid and accurate technical analysis. Furthermore, the community is very friendly and helpful. I would strongly recommend anyone who's looking to join an investment group to join Pure Investments. - Andy You can learn more about Zeke's business at pureinvestments.com or click here for more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast.

    Zeke Tierkel (Co-Founder & CEO, Pure Investments)

  5. 11/28/2019

    Chas Smith (Co-Founder & CEO, Sap! Beverages)

    Chas is a cofounder and the CEO of Sap! Beverages. He founded the company alongside his cousin Nikita. Sap! has been featured in USA Today,  Country Living, Food & Wine Magazine, and many more. Their products were featured in Whole Foods' Top Trends for 2018 and the pair made an appearance on NBC's Shark Tank with famed investors Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavek, Barbara Corcoran, Rohan Ohza, and Lori Griener. They ultimately turned down an offer from Herjavek for 30% of their company, valuing the business at close to $2m. Some of the things we discuss with Chas on this episode of the podcast: How running his business has set him up to succeed in his future endeavors regardless of the industry. How to find a product-market fit and better understand the opportunity for your business Launching the product at a single location- City Market in downtown Burlington, VT. His experience developing new, innovative products that the market had never seen Why it's so important to understand your customer and what they care about Why he turned down a deal on NBC's Shark Tark Chas' feelings about sacrificing a career in law in order to build his own company. How social media has helped distinguish Sap! and build their fanbase It takes constant hard work and hard truths about your products. I'm really a strong believer that you have to go through the experience yourself to learn. You can find Sap! products online at SapVT.com and follow along on their journey on social media @DrinkSap. Check out more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast.

    Chas Smith (Co-Founder & CEO, Sap! Beverages)

  6. 11/28/2019

    Georgia Grace Edwards (Co-Founder & CEO, SheFly Apparel)

    Georgia Grace, along with her co-founders Bianca Gonzalez and Charlotte Massey, recently launched SheFly Apparel. SheFly is a layerable line of pants that allows women to comfortably, safely, and easily relieve themselves in the outdoors, without exposing skin to the elements or to other people. Their mission is to promote inclusivity, accessibility, and women’s empowerment in the outdoors through innovative product design. I’ll also add that I’m really impressed with the sustainability aspect that’s been infused into the brand, and I’ll let Georgia Grace speak to that later. Georgia Grace and her team have appeared in several business pitch competitions, including the Vermont Road Pitch and Peak Pitch, both hosted by Fresh Tracks Capital. They’ve been able to generate a BUNCH of press locally here in Vermont, recently being featured on Fox Local 44 and Think Vermont and in Seven Days and the Vermont Business Magazine. On the national level, SheFly has been recognized by Boston Inno and featured on several other podcasts. Their crowdfunding campaign on iFundWomen far exceeded their fundraising goal, having raised over $20k from 200 individual backers. You can find their products online at sheflyapparel.com, or follow them on social media at @SheFlyApparel How she thought up the idea for SheFly while climbing glaciers in Alaska Her crowdfunding experience and how SheFly raised $50,000 before ever selling a pair of pants. How to navigate the process of patenting IP and how to leverage patents to license to other companies The impact that a class in entrepreneurship hosted by VCET partners David Bradbury and Sam Roach-Gerber had on the SheFly team How to build an audience on social media Why every startup should build a press kit How to define the roles of each of your co-founders (hint: Hustler, Hacker, Hipster) How to develop a prototype that you can use to pre-sell your product and how to find a manufacturer to replicate and improve your design Anytime we make an assumption about something, it usually ends in a mistake. How customer survey data can inform your marketing and product development I think for any product in this market, sustainability should be high up on the list of priorities and part of the mission. We’ve partnered with a factory that has a zero waste policy. Their name is Visible Clothing. They believe that every piece of fabric or material that enters their building should leave as a finished product, so nothing is being thrown away. Why you should fall in love with your co-founders and how to facilitate that How Georgia Grace and her co-founders have built their business while being fully remote and living all over the world I wish I had known how to file taxes as an LLC, and kept better records of all spend no matter how directly or indirectly its related to the business. SheFly’s approach to packaging and the unboxing experience Georgia Grace’s Top Reads for Young Entrepreneurs Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner Smart People Should Build Things by Andrew Yang Check out more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast.

    Georgia Grace Edwards (Co-Founder & CEO, SheFly Apparel)

  7. 11/28/2019

    Nik Ingersoll (Co-Founder & CMO, Barnana)

    Nik Ingersoll joins us on this episode of the Young Founders Podcast as we discussed his experience building the Barnana brand. Barnana is a healthy, organic snack product found across the US in popular chains like Healthy Living, Whole Foods, and even Starbucks. Barnana has been featured in a ton of publications like Clean Eating, Good Housekeeping, The Vegetarian Times, Womens Running, Popsugar, and more. Nik himself was recognized by Forbes as a top 30 under 30 entrepreneur. Some of our conversation includes: Raising $300k in the first year of starting Barnana How much equity you should give away in your first round of funding His mindset around entrepreneurship and hustle Why his first real business was a web consultancy and how he used it to support his second business What it feels like to be too early to market (his augmented reality business) Why you should ignore the doubters Nik Ingersoll, BarnanaYou really have to be confident in yourself and feel happy within yourself. You don't have to look for external motivation in that way. Anybody giving you the advice that your idea sucks, your products sucks, they can suck it. How he keeps track of his to-do lists and holds himself accountable Why execution trumps ideas every time What is an "escalation of commitment" and why you should avoid it Why your goal in business should be to optimize for freedom The importance of building a personal brand Nik's Top 3 Recommended Books for Young Entrepreneurs The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Letters from a Stoic by Seneca the Younger Nik Ingersoll, BarnanaA true entrepreneur is someone who has a very high tolerance for risk taking that truly does love to make things out of thin air. To think of something and then turn it into a reality. And also somebody who is willing to eat plates and plates and plates of shit until the shit turns into steak. Check out more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast.

    Nik Ingersoll (Co-Founder & CMO, Barnana)

  8. 11/28/2019

    Peter Silverman (Co-founder & CEO, Majorwise)

    In our inaugural episode of the Young Founders Podcast, we've got Pete Silverman on. Pete is the co-founder and CEO of Majorwise, an ed tech platform connecting students to job and internship opportunities. In their own words, Majorwise "focuses on simplifying the job search process, connecting students with the gig economy, and helping students gain more knowledge and experience to succeed in their field." In 2017, Pete's startup became the first student-run business to win the LaunchVT pitch competition, the oldest and largest business pitch contest in the state. We discussed: The importance of their board of advisers and what they've been able to do for the company The challenges of starting a business at age 19 How Pete & Max raised $200,000 for their startup before they left school and the perils of raising money for your startup at a young age How Pete brought talent into his organization in the early stages with Air Jordans Getting from idea to revenue and the point at which you realize your idea might actually work Pete's definition of entrepreneurship The importance of having a co-founder Product-Market Fit Why you shouldn't be focused on generating revenue (Hint: Solve the problem first) How to get value from sales calls that don't convert How to use email marketing as a growth hack Why every founder and CEO should pay for third-party audits of their website The best and worst advice we've received in our short careers Pete's advice to the young entrepreneur with an idea: Sell something. We closed out the podcast with a quote from Pete's co-founder Max Robbins: “We were at an event every single day learning to network and better succinctly pitch our idea. Persistence was the key. Ideas are worthless without execution, and to execute, you need to explain your idea succinctly and convincingly. To do that, you need to constantly talk about what you are doing, network with everyone, and leverage your connections. It opens up a world of free resources for you.” Listen to more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast or check out our other podcast series.

    Peter Silverman (Co-founder & CEO, Majorwise)
  • 8 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

About

A podcast that talks about the trials and tribulations, as well as the triumphs, of building a business at a young age.

Information

  • Creator
    Young Founders
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2020
  • Episodes
    8
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Young Founders
  • Show Website
    Young Founders Podcast