36 episodes

Everyone has a superpower... We're here to uncover it. Welcome to the Superpowers Podcast, where you hear real stories from iconic startup founders and industry trailblazers like Kara Goldin (Hint Water), Andy Dunn (Bonobos), and Deborah Wahl (General Motors). Join me, Chris Cunningham, as we dive deep into the trenches and discover how these incredible entrepreneurs used their unique superpower to succeed in business and life. Superpowers; what's yours?

Superpowers Podcast Superpowers Podcast

    • Business
    • 4.0 • 4 Ratings

Everyone has a superpower... We're here to uncover it. Welcome to the Superpowers Podcast, where you hear real stories from iconic startup founders and industry trailblazers like Kara Goldin (Hint Water), Andy Dunn (Bonobos), and Deborah Wahl (General Motors). Join me, Chris Cunningham, as we dive deep into the trenches and discover how these incredible entrepreneurs used their unique superpower to succeed in business and life. Superpowers; what's yours?

    In The Trenches: Macro Musings With Jamie McGurk

    In The Trenches: Macro Musings With Jamie McGurk

    Chris and Matt invited Jamie McGurk, General Partner at BAM Elevate, to share his expertise on the state of today’s market. Jamie currently oversees the private investment division of Balyasny Asset Management L.P. 
    “We focus on private markets, starting beyond the venture stage… think of us as early growth investors.”
    Jamie discusses his broad view of the market today and where he has seen the biggest changes.

    “In 2021, top-performing private companies that exited had really strong balance sheets. But many had operational expense plans that were wound up to match that. Now, some of that “unwind” will happen, but not for all of them.”

    He talks about how the private growth funds have slowed down in competition and how that has impacted deal velocity over valuations (so far, anyway).

    Jamie also covers valuation compression and what he sees happening across the board.

    Check out Bam Elevate to learn more.
    Visit c2ventures.co to learn more about our portfolio companies.
    Please support the show by subscribing and sharing it with a friend.
    Follow Matt on LinkedIn or Twitter.
    Follow Chris on LinkedIn or Twitter.
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    • 34 min
    Jake DeCicco - Extreme Optimist

    Jake DeCicco - Extreme Optimist

    Jake DeCicco and his two brothers have a fascinating story about becoming top entrepreneurs in one of the most saturated consumer goods categories - Coffee. Super Coffee's most recent valuation is $500 million, and its goal is to expand into the International market in the next few years. Super Coffee's core premise was to make a drink that was a third of the calories and zero sugar but tasted like a Starbucks frappuccino.

    Jake shares the journey he and his brothers went on and how they used their experience as athletes to work as a team and keep going through the tough times. "Learning how to be teammates, first. We respect each other's positions and just make sure that we are working towards the team's greater goal, which carries over very nicely to the workplace."

    The brothers always had an entrepreneurial spirit, "Jordan and I always had a little bit of an entrepreneurial bug. We would make lemonade stands in high school or hustled and sold gum in the hallways that we bought from Sam's Club." This mentality served them well when they had to grind daily to produce their first shipment of Super Coffee to Whole Foods.

    The journey these three brothers have gone on has been inspirational to listen to, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did,

    Learn more about Super Coffee here: https://drinksupercoffee.com/
    Connect with Jake here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-decicco-42698a66/
    Connect with Chris here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cunninghamchrisc2/
    Follow us on Twitter: @c2_ventures
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    • 45 min
    Kara Goldin - Courage and Curiosity

    Kara Goldin - Courage and Curiosity

    PREVIOUS INTERVIEW - Kara Goldin started her career at Time Magazine and was quickly recruited by CNN for advertising sales. She then took a role at a small startup company called 2Market, where she was worried that she wouldn't contribute because she knew nothing about tech. 
    But, Kara showed up every day, learning and growing, and when AOL acquired the company, she became the youngest Vice President and one of the few female leaders on the team. She managed a team of around two hundred people for years until she realized that she was missing out on her children's lives. 
    "I have three kids back in San Francisco under the age of four. I cannot rewind their life. And I thought I'm hopping off this train," Kara told Chris. It was not an easy transition, and she was met with many naysayers, telling her she was making a mistake. Nevertheless, she persisted in her decision to be with her family and take a break. 
    At the same time, Kara began with health issues. This was the catalyst that would change her life trajectory forever. 
    Unbeknown to Kara, she was on her way to becoming one of the most well-recognized female entrepreneurs in the health and wellness industry today. 
    Hint Water was born out of Kara's curiosity to find answers. Answers about her health issues and why "diet" drinks were deceiving consumers into believing they were healthy when they were, in fact, detrimental. 
    "I mean, it was crazy because again, I think the challenge that people have is there are healthy perceptions versus healthy reality. And here I am, a smart person, a successful person, and I was fooled, right. It is really, really tricky."
    Kara spent the next several years taking one step forward, two steps back, trying to bring Hint Water to the world. She eventually got her first break with Google and then Whole Foods. 
    "Talking about superpower. I think my curiosity has always been probably one of the biggest superpowers that I have."
    Kara has grown her water company into selling face and body products that are chemical-free. She also wrote Undaunted to share her life's journey to encourage other entrepreneurs to keep being curious and never lose faith. 
    To learn more about Hint Water, visit https://www.drinkhint.com.
    To learn more about Kara Goldin and her book undaunted, visit https://karagoldin.com.
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    • 1 hr 14 min
    In The Trenches: What's Happening in Insurance Tech With Koffie Labs and Driver Technologies

    In The Trenches: What's Happening in Insurance Tech With Koffie Labs and Driver Technologies

    Today, in the trenches, we invited Ian White, Co-Founder of Koffie Labs, and Rashid Galadanci, Founder of Driver Technologies, to talk about what they are seeing in the insurance tech sector.
    "Somebody first identified trucking insurance to me as Satan's pit of insurance, but I love it." Ian jokes about his love of commercial trucking insurance and knows that the industry has lost money for the last ten years. "Bringing in new tech folks and underwriters who are experienced but not jaded is a really exciting way to turn it around."
    Rashid bought the dream of autonomous cars and trucks. "I drank the Kool-Aid. I saw the dream about the future, painted for us by our dear friend Yuan at Tesla. Then I realized that this was not something that only the bottom of the pyramid doesn't have access to. Actually, 95% of the pyramid won't have access to these types of tools."
    Ian and Rashid talk about the challenges, and progress that is happening in their respective parts of the insurance tech industry and share the growth and innovation happening to help protect drivers and truckers in the future.

    Please support the show by subscribing and sharing it with a friend.
    Follow us on Twitter - @superpowerspod, Instagram - @superpowerspod
    Learn more about Driver Technologies - https://drivertechnologies.com/
    Learn more about Koffie Labs - https://getkoffie.com/
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    • 28 min
    Mick Batyske - Flywheel Connections

    Mick Batyske - Flywheel Connections

    I met Mick Batyske years ago in Barcelona, and I was blown away by his incredible musical talent and entrepreneurial spirit. This guy has DJ'd for some of the biggest names: Cartier, Complex, GQ, Instagram, Jay-Z, LeBron James, Michelle Obama, Miguel, Prince, Spotify, Vanity Fair, and Will Smith. Not only is he one of the most requested DJs, but he is also an investor, speaker, podcaster, and devoted father.
    But Mick's journey didn't start with hot nightclubs and celebrity schmoozing. "I got my start deejaying in a dorm room in college. I walked in there with two crates of records, two turntables, and a mixer that barely worked and became a DJ. It was my first exercise in rebranding because I was an overweight, hairline-receding nerd in high school. A fat drummer and a marching band kid. Two months later, I was like the coolest student in the dorm."
    Over time Mick realized he could connect with people he would never usually get the chance to meet. He got the opportunity to build connections with influential people through his music. "I realized I'd much rather be in rooms of people that we can add mutual value outside of the DJ booth versus just, like pretty people drunk at a club."
    The event and DJ industry got annihilated during the pandemic, so he began to evaluate how to pivot his attention and start to grow different revenue streams. Mick started angel investing and advising startups through his company, The Xavier Co. Mick invests in, and advises a plethora of start-ups including Anchor, BPM Supreme, and Buzzer.
    Connect with Mick at mick.co or check out his music on SoundCloud.

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    Mick's BIO
    DJ, speaker, investor and advisor Mick Batyske (p/k/a MICK) has his feet planted at the intersection of culture and entrepreneurship.
    Inc Magazine referred to MICK as a “combination of Gary Vee and Questlove.”
    Vogue says he "keeps the dancefloor going all night."
    Complex has called MICK "the most entrepreneurial deejay."
    But MICK refers to himself as the father of the coolest 6-year-old in the world: Myles.
    DJ clients have included Andreessen Horowitz, Cartier, GQ, Instagram, LeBron, Michelle Obama, NBC, Prince, Twitter, Vanity Fair, and Will Smith.
    His speaking reel includes Alibaba, Cannes Lions, MasterCard and Stanford.
    MICK’s investment portfolio includes Anchor, Backdrop, Buzzer, Dot Dot Dash, and Winc.
    Via this new venture, The Xavier Co, he is currently advising a plethora of start-ups including Game On and Polinate.
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    • 53 min
    In The Trenches: Retail Tech Innovation with Matt Olivo and Chris Cunningham

    In The Trenches: Retail Tech Innovation with Matt Olivo and Chris Cunningham

    Welcome to the second installment of In The Trenches. In line with our core strategy of traditional old economy sectors looking for productivity solutions, we have started to see a marked increase in the number of solutions aimed at the traditional brick-and-mortar retail space. And in some cases, maybe even the e-commerce space or something in between.
    In this episode, Matt shares data to support what we've seen regarding the limitations of e-commerce and the misunderstood features of traditional brick-and-mortar retail. He talks about what innovations we are seeing with AI, security, and much more.
    Follow Matt on LinkedIn or Twitter.
    Follow Chris on LinkedIn or Twitter.
    Visit c2ventures.co to learn more.
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    • 20 min

Customer Reviews

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4 Ratings

4 Ratings

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Superpowers...

Great concept! Have a watch!

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