Babson Built

Babson alumni and Hio CEO and Co-Founder Jason Craparo shares why relationships are core to Hio's value proposition as an event platform, how he saw the potential of virtual events well before COVID-19, and how he leveraged the business model canvas to build an app that you won't want to delete.Learn more about Jason Craparo and Hio: https://hiosocial.com/

Think food trucks, but for retail. With Flexetail modern mobile spaces, Babson alumni Joel Kamm is changing how brands connect and interact with their customers. Plus, we talk with Joel about landing major customers, leveraging your MBA, co-founding a business with your significant other, and much more. Learn more about Joel Kamm and Flexetail: https://flexetail.com/

Babson alumni Rich Palmer joins us on this episode to share the "why" behind Gravyty, the first and leading artificial intelligence company focused solely on social good, which he co-founded and leads as CTO. Plus, he gives us his advice: how to overcome your fears, how to pick a co-founder, when to start raising money, why you should always be pitching, and more. Learn more about Rich Palmer and Gravyty: https://www.gravyty.com/

Babson alumni Gautam Gupta joins us to share his journey, from his start as an early-stage investor at General Catalyst to NatureBox, which he co-founded and grew to a leading brand in the snacking market. Plus, hear how Gautam is now bringing his startup operations experience and perspective to the world of venture capital as a partner at M13.Learn more about Gautam Gupta: https://www.gautamg.com/

Founded in 2018, Busy Beauty delivers waste-free, U.S. made and naturally focused wipes. The brand has experienced remarkable growth. Its current partners include Kohl's, Macy's, and JetBlue. Co-founder Jamie Steenbakkers graduated from Babson in 2018 and talks about her journey as an entrepreneur. Learn more about Busy Beauty: https://busybeauty.com/

Hear from the founders of The Grommet, a “makers” marketplace that highlights the stories and people behind the products. One of those people is David Zamarin, who is founder and CEO of DetraPel, Shark Tank deal-maker and Babson alum. David chats with The Grommet founders Jules Pieri and Joanne Domeniconi, as well as host Alex Kennedy, about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship and making products with purpose.Learn more about The Grommet: https://www.thegrommet.com/Learn more about Detrapel: https://www.detrapel.com/

Parlor makes custom skis and snowboards that are hand-built in New England by skiers and are 100% American made. Parlor has been featured in Ski Magazine, Bloomberg, and the Boston Herald. Founder Mark Wallace got his MBA from Babson in 2014, and was a BETA Challenge finalist. Hear how Parlor became the largest ski manufacturer in New England without sacrificing an unmatched focus on the customer.Learn More: https://parlorskis.com/?utm_campaign=babsonbuiltpodcast

Jamie Kent, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and Babson alum, has been called an “artist you need to know” by Rolling Stone magazine and a “must watch artist” by the Huffington Post. His songs have been heard on major national television programs like “The Today Show,” and his 2016 album, All American Mutt, debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. And he’s done this without a major label, management, or a PR team. Hear how he fuses music and entrepreneurship into “artrepreneurship.”Learn more: http://jamiekent.com/

Ring Inc is a home security and smart home company owned by Amazon. Ring manages a range of home security products that incorporate outdoor motion-detecting cameras, such as the Ring video doorbell. Founder Jamie Siminoff graduated from Babson in 1999 and appeared on ABC's Shark Tank in late 2013. He returned to Shark Tank in October 2018, this time as a guest shark. Hear about his journey from 'Doorbot' to 'Ring' and how Amazon acquired Ring for a staggering $1Bn. Learn more: https://ring.com/

Bombas is a comfort focused apparel brand with a mission to help those in need. Similar to other “one-for-one” model brands like Toms Shoes and Warby Parker, Bombas donates a pair of socks for every pair it sells. Founder David Heath graduated from Babson in 2005, and appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2014. Hear about his journey and how he’s taking his business to the next level. Learn more: https://bombas.com/

Yad manufactures unique home decor items that showcases the artwork of people with disabilities. Founder Debi Cohen won the 2019 BETA challenge, went on to participate in the Babson Summer Venture Program as well as Mass Challenge. Listen to find out how she's done it all!Learn more: https://yad-art.org/en/yad_en/

Find out what's ahead on Season 3 of Babson Built. Hear brand new interviews with Babson founders. Subscribe now so you don't miss out!

Nectar CBD has combined the elements of a superdrink with the benefits of CBD, a recently FDA approved and Federally legal extract from hemp plants. In this episode, Nectar founder Trevor Grode shares about how his team have grown the company from a concept to a legitimate business sold in over thirty stores in New England.

Co-founder Ryan Lupberger shares the fascinating story of Cleancult, which started out when Lupberger tried to read the ingredients on a a bottle of detergent and couldn't find any! Since that time, the company has raised funding and grown like crazy, starting out at Babson on kickstarter and now being one of the best selling eco/skin friendly cleaning brands on Amazon. Listen to find out what it's really like starting a business!

Think Board makes state of the art, hyper-useful dry erase boards. Their products sit in a highly accessible price point for customers. In this episode, Gabriella Bourdon interviews Think Board founder Hanson Grant about how he went from making dry erase boards for his own usage to selling them to friends, and ultimately becoming an extremely successful product sold in thousands of stores throughout the United States.

In this episode we chat with Enrico Palmerino, founder of BotKeeper, an automated bookkeeping software powered by artificial intelligence (AI). At the time of recording, BotKeeper had recently raised an $18 million round from Greycroft and Gradient Ventures, Google's investment arm! David Finger and Palmerino chat about serial entrepreneurship, leadership, effective sleep, and creating a platform around Palmerino's least favorite topic, accounting.

Mighty Well has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneurship, and the Boston Globe. The company has also won Babson's prestigious Beta Challenge, as well as the Breakaway Challenge. In this episode Emily Levy, Babson class of 2016, tells of her experience building Mighty Well, which has a growing line of medical accessories that put strength, confidence, and mobility back into the toolkit for spoonies and anyone else coping with a health setback.

Anup Gosavi's passion for starting a business has taken him to many places. After building his last startup to hundreds of thousands of daily active users, he decided to pivot the platform to create Spext. Spext is audio production for the next generation; it allows users to upload their audio files and rapidly edit them with advanced speech-to-text functionality. The platform has already received extremely postive responses from the market, and received investments from a number of reputable sources. Hear the story of how Spext rose to its current level of success, and about the exciting plans for the future of audio production!

Ravish Majithia is a “materials scientist by training, a chemist at heart and an entrepreneur in the works.” He was named as one of Poets and Quants Top 100 MBA's in 2018, and his startup Magnomer won Gold in the 2018 MassChallenge after also winning Babson’s B.E.T.A. Challenge. Check out this interview to hear how Ravish is tackling the complicated quandary of plastics recycling.

Taylor Custom Rings was founded by a husband & wife team who are raising four kids, two dogs, as well as growing their jewelry business. The company uses lab grown diamonds to craft beautiful rings that are custom made to the specifications of the customer, and each of the rings is an expression of creativity and love.

Shiva is an engineer, turned product manager, turned entrepreneur. She started Green Piñata over three years ago and it continues to grow today. Green Piñata delivers toys that grow with your kid: sign up, create a profile for you kid, and boom, you get safe, educational, fun toys at your door every month. Keep what you want and return the rest. In this episode, toss out your assumptions of the entrepreneur college drop-out or the “ah-ha” moment idea. Shiva’s path to entrepreneurship is nothing like the stereotypical entrepreneur most of us think of. Listen to this episode and hear all about how Shiva manages to work, start a business, and a new family all at the same time!

Hear the story of SoloCoco, a social impact business based in the Dominican Republic that creates virgin coconut oil products, handmade by single mothers who have become experts at their craft. The company distributes to 10 countries and is especially popular among Whole Foods shoppers because of its natural properties and fair trade certification. In this episode we hear from SoloCoco co-founders Daniel Dalet (Babson '03) and Abel Gonzalez about the obstacles they faced in creating the venture, and how they stumbled across an avenue for social impact almost accidentally. SoloCoco is the winner of the 2016 Lewis Institute Changemaker Award as well as the Babson 2018 B.E.T.A. Challenge.

Cabletron Systems began in the early 1980’s to manufacture networking computer equipment that dramatically reduced the cost of Ethernet networking equipment. This technology led the way to the more modern computer technology. In this episode Jake Maude interviews founder Craig Benson, to explore how he started this company out of his garage and how it grew into a billion dollar business.

In this episode of Babson Built, Jake Maude interviews Detrapel Founder David Zamarin to discover how he took a high school business idea and grew it into a nanotechnology used by thousands of consumers and brands alike. The story unfolds about how Zamarin faced the ups and downs of inconsistent suppliers and at one point nearly folded Detrapel, but ended up getting backed by Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner on Shark Tank.

In this week's Babson Built episode, David Finger interviews Honest Discounts Founder Chris Jacobs. The story unfolds about how Jacobs went from being a "bad student" to starting one of the most disruptive and successful companies in the prescription medication industry.

Waku is an herbal infusion beverage made from herbs and flowers sourced from the Andes mountains. Based on a traditional recipe found in Ecuador, Waku started as just a concept a little over a year ago and is now projected to do six figures in sales this year. Our guest is Babson second-year MBA candidate Juan Giraldo, co-founder of Waku. In our conversation, Juan shares his entrepreneurial journey and what it means to have a sustainable business that is helping rural farmers in Ecuador and exploding in popularity here in Boston.

This week's Babson Built focuses on InnerCity Weightlifting, a community and network as well as a source of education, job-training, and employment for young people who have previously been incarcerated or connected to gangs.

This week's Babson Built focuses on Lula, one of the hottest startups in the shared auto economy, which is coming to a campus near you!

Startup Island founders Josh Gershon and Brian Helfman talk about how they built a business teaching entrepreneurship in the tropics.

In this episode, we hear from Briggs Original co-founder Michael Kurson about how they created the Boston Cranberry, a hard seltzer.

In this episode, we hear from Project 99 founder Yulkendy Valdez and Josuel Plasenci about their mission to bring diversity to America's workforce.