Start to Sale

Erin Patinkin of Ovenly and Natasha Case of Coolhaus talk with the entrepreneurs behind some of your favorite companies to reveal what it takes to build a business from the ground up. 

Christina Tosi is a superstar pastry chef, and she's also built one of the most iconic American pastry brands of this generation, Milk Bar. She talked to Erin and Natasha about her Series A round, learning how to be a great manager and staying true to her vision while achieving growth.

Jen Rubio, co-founder of travel brand Away (creators of cultishly loved suitcases) talks with Erin Patinkin and Natasha Case about how a college dropout with no experience in the worlds of travel or luggage built one of the most talked about travel companies of 2018. She and her partner raised capital, gained loyalty, and disrupted a staid space through the power of storytelling and consistent pitching. She maintains that building Away as a lifestyle brand, not a suitcase company, opens up a bright future for them and their partners.

Penelope Gazin and Kate Dwyer talk to Natasha and Erin about the moments of difficulty that triggered their decision to become entrepreneurs. They started Witschy, a marketplace for artists, in part as a way to move on from personal struggle. And the site is highly personal for the co-founders—a curated extension of their mutual tastes. Gazin and Dwyer discuss their entrepreneurial philosophy and tell the story of how they built an Etsy competitor that became cash flow positive with hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue in the first year.

Erin and Natasha talk to Ari Weinzweig about Zingerman's unique model, how he fights the pressure to conform, and why vision is integral to the survival of a business.

Erin and Natasha talk to Refinery29 co-founder Piera Gelardi about impostor syndrome and being your own cheerleader, how her company is trying to change who has access to opportunities, and the emotional rollercoaster of running an ever-changing company and eventually ceding authority over key areas of the business.

Erin and Natasha talk to Dermalogica co-founder Jane Wurwand about how and why Dermalogica achieved its remarkable ascent — from its identification of white space in the skin care market, to its original take on grassroots marketing, to its focus on empowering aestheticians with information and quality product. It's a brand truly built from scratch and scaled all the way to a successful exit to Unilever.

Erin and Natasha talk to BlocPower founder Donnel Baird about what social entrepreneurship means and about his effort to reduce global warming and help at-risk communities through job building. Donnel tells the hosts about trying to create the "Google of green energy" and how BlocPower not only measures its success by the revenues and returns it generates--200% year-over-year revenue growth with an eye on a billion-dollar valuation--but the overall net positive effect it has on the communities it works with via providing economic opportunities.