Startup Renegades

Ethan Song is forever an optimist and began his journey as the founder and CEO of Frank And Oak, which aimed to reshape the fashion industry by making it more personal and sustainable. Frank And Oak was named Most innovative company in retail by Fast Company and was #1 on the Deloitte Fast50 list.Today, Ethan is the founder of RareCircles, helping creators and brands create communities in the Web3 economy. His insights into growth strategy, community, and founder mindset are invaluable.In this episode, you will hear:How Ethan went about launching his companyThe actions he took to get his first customersWhy the business goal is NOT to get millions of customers and what this means for business growthConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Caroline Winnett is the Executive Director of Berkeley SkyDeck, a global hub for entrepreneurship, and one of the leading accelerators in the world. She is a serial entrepreneur, civic activist, angel investor, advisor and board member of several startups, as well as and a frequent speaker on startups, accelerators, women in business and consumer neuroscience. Caroline tells us about her personal journey to the Skydeck program and explains everything founders might need to know about this unique accelerator program.In this episode, you will hear:What is the Skydeck program and who is it for?The distinctive benefits Skydeck offers that you simply won't find in other acceleratorsConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Krish Ramineni was a former PM at Microsoft and stumbled into entrepreneurship. When focusing on productivity solutions, he and his co-founders decided to just build something that they would use. Fireflies AI was born and the rest is history!Fireflies AI assistant joins meetings across zoom, Gmeet, Teams, and several other video conferencing platforms to take notes, create searchable transcripts and provide insights into your conversations. In just two years, the company is globally distributed in 10+ countries and has been brought into meetings by more than 70% of the Fortune 500s today. In this episode, you will hear:How to identify the right moment to stick with a new startupHow a single thesis around productivity led to something moreHow the company used product-led growth levers to expand quicklyConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Marshall started his career in 2015 in the event space and had an affinity for pedal-to-the-metal organizations, guerilla marketing tactics, and doing things others won't.After dropping out of university in 2017, Marshall started working with startups and small businesses, and focused on growth, particularly in sales. After some success growing an existing business by running it like a new startup, he took the leap of faith in 2021 to turn his observations and theories into solutions by joining the founding team at MNTN Co.Marshall eventually branched off to co-found slø with MNTN Co. founder Kristian Hansen where they put their theories to the test, proving very quick and fruitful pre-seed growth at slø thus far.In this episode, you will hear:The systematic path Marshall took after dropping out of college to launching his own startupThe ambitious way Marshall found himself the perfect co-founderHow they tested their original idea and grew a seriously powerful waitlistConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Ron Ross is the founder of Everee, workforce payments technology that makes it easy to pay people instantly. He is a seasoned finance executive with 15 years of experience leading accounting, finance and operations teams at fast-growing companies. Ron came up with Everee after seeing firsthand the negative impact of waiting two weeks for a paycheck. His daughter had a job making enough to cover her expenses, but she kept running out of money because the timing of her payday and bills didn't match. Realizing what a huge problem this was for so many Americans, Ron decided to challenge the status quo and created Everee to make faster paydays a reality. Since founding the company in 2018, Ron has grown the team by 5X and raised Seed and Series A financing rounds totaling $14M in April 2019 and 2020 respectively.In this episode, you will hear:How an artist at heart was inspired by entrepreneurs and economic policy to change the worldHow Ron knew the timing was right for this specific business ideaHow Ron successfully led his team as an introvertConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Alejandra Santos is the founder and CEO of Startup Tandem. She landed in Miami from Honduras at the age of 17 with no support, money, or family. During her first few years in the US, she struggled to keep a roof over her head and food on her table, while at the same time pursuing an education…. But she did it.Alejandra comes with 14+ years of experience in accounting and finance consulting. She has experience with nonprofits, restaurants, real estate, wealth management, and startups. In this episode, you will hear:The first startup Alejandra joined and what she learned from itHow knowing the numbers empowers you to make the right decisions as a founderWhy having a CFO that grows with is essential for new startupsConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Shannon Erley has worked in the skincare and beauty industry for years and was personally struggling with adult hormonal acne. It wasn't until she started working with a licensed esthetician that recommended a good at-home skincare routine was when her skin started to improve.With so many people getting skincare recommendations elsewhere, she wanted to highlight the importance of estheticians, who have gone to school and trained for over 600+ hours, and have estheticians be at the forefront of making better skincare recommendations. She built Pomp, a technology platform for estheticians to integrate into their businesses to make better recommendations for new and existing clients.In this episode, you will hear:The key lessons Shannon learned from her first startup experienceThe grassroots and creative actions Shannon took to get her very first customersThe first hires Shannon made and why they were so essential to achieving scaleConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Maia's the Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of the Nav.it Money App, the fitness app for finances which provides personalized financial coaching to help people build good habits and live financially well. She's devoted to closing wealth gaps perpetuated by a system not built for the majority of America and believes financial wellbeing is an integral part of creating a healthier and more equitable society. Maia talks about the importance of getting a Humanities degree in today's job market and how her obsession with the customer journey led to her success as a founder.In this episode, you will hear:Why a small pool of early adopters could be your startup's secret weaponThe exact strategy Maia and her co-founders used to find their early adopters and turn them into brand ambassadorsHow obsession with qualitative marketing research was a key strategy that helped Maia grow her fintech appConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Lindsay Pinchuk started her first company with just a $500 investment, growing it to reach 3MM users per month and generating 7-figures in revenue year over year. Less than a decade later she led her company through its acquisition to a large agency holding company.Today, Lindsay is Founder + CEO of Lindsay Pinchuk Marketing + Consulting, helping individuals, companies and brands build and monetize their communities for bottom line growth through content, social media, email, partnerships and publicity.You can also find her behind the mic interviewing some of the most incredible female founders she knows during her twice weekly podcast, Dear FoundHer.In this episode, you will hear:What Lindsay did in the early days of her media business to capture her audience before the days of social mediaThe 3 things that Lindsay suggests founders do to build their businesses in today's environmentExamples of how a media business like Bump Club and Beyond generates revenue How Lindsay knew it was time to move onto her next ventureConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Justin Izzo is the research lead at DocSend, the secure document sharing platform that provides founders with the insight they need to succeed throughout their fundraising journey. Justin brings 15 years of research and leadership experience to the role in combination with his passion for educating and empowering startup founders.On today's episode, Justin shares his unique insights into what it takes to develop and effective pitch deck.In this episode, you will hear:The slides you haven't included in your deck, but maybe should haveThe giant change that's happening in pitch decks in 2022 and what it means for youWhy you absolutely can't forget the competition slideFounders looking to amplify their outreach to VCs can join the DocSend Fundraising Network here: https://www.docsend.com/fundraising-network/ Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

An entrepreneur at heart, Stephanie Cartin walked away from her corporate career in 2012 to follow her passion to launch Socialfly, a leading social-first digital and influencer marketing agency based in New York City named to Inc. 5000's fastest growing private companies two years in a row. In 2018, Stephanie co-founded Entreprenista, a media company and membership community dedicated to helping women grow and scale their businesses, and serves as CEO where she also ​​co-hosts Entreprenista's Podcast Network shows; Startups in Stilettos and The Entreprenista Podcast. Stephanie is the co-author of "Like, Love, Follow: The Entreprenista's Guide to Using Social Media To Grow Your Business,” and is a recipient of the SmartCEO Brava Award and a Stevie Award for Women Run Workplace of the Year. In this episode, you will hear:How Stephanie's skill as a young actress translated into great salesmanship that has served her throughout her careerHow Entreprenista went from a podcast to a strong community to a thriving media businessWhy you might want to consider building your community firstA pro tip for entrepreneurs looking to get instant credibility on a budgetConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

The eldest daughter of two immigrant entrepreneurs, Priyanka Murthy has a talent and passion for the law. She became a Fulbright Scholar, a cum laude Northwestern Law graduate, an editor of the Law Review, and a law clerk to two prolific federal judges. But a side hustle with her parents' small jewelry wholesale business made her realize that the jewelry industry was outdated and ripe for disruption.To meet this challenge head on, Priyanka launched Access79 to eliminate the risk of buying fine jewelry online by providing a personal and curated, convenient, digital-meets-high-touch shopping experience. The company later rebranded to become Array.Today, Priyanka counts Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lopez, and Rachel Zoe as fans of her jewelry.In this episode, you will hear:The methodical step Priyanka took to test out her try-before-you-buy solution instead of simply selling for revenuePriyanka's unique business model and how she convinced talented designers to work with her in this new wayWhy working at the intersection of a tech company and a luxury brand is different than other types of startupsTake 15% off your first full price order with code ArrayRenegade15 Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Saskia Sorrosa built a strong career in marketing and moved into what she believed to be her dream role—VP of Marketing for the NBA. When her second child arrived on the scene, Saskia realized that she needed to step back from her corporate career to pursue aligning her business with her values.That's when she founded Fresh Bellies, a kid snack brand distributed nationwide by major retailers like Whole Foods. Saskia has grown Fresh Bellies to a national disruptor, winning the the Expo East NEXTY Award for Best New Natural Kid's Product, pitching to Shark Tank and graduating from the Chobani Incubator.In this episode, you will hear:The micro actions Saskia took to move her business out of the farmer's market and onto the national stageAbout the importance of being flexible with your business and why Fresh Bellies dropped its first product in the middle of raising a round of capitalSaskia's evolving thought process for finding the right channels in which to place her energy and business resources for successConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Joshua March is Co-founder and CEO of SCiFi Foods, a Bay Area food tech company focused on making transformational meat alternatives first by combining plant-based and cultivated meat to make burgers that are drastically closer in taste to the real versions. But his journey began in a completely different industry.One line in a scifi book sparked his passion and led him to take serious action, and it has been an incredible journey from there!Josh has two exits to his name. He was previously the CEO and Co-founder of Conversocial, a digital care platform for messaging that integrates with many of the world's leading brands, and he is also the author of Message Me, a book about the future of customer service in the era of social messaging and artificial intelligence.In this episode, you will hear:How Josh blew through his first business loan learning the ropes and what he did to get himself back on track financiallyThe key areas Josh and his team focused on to tell a compelling story to investorsHow to identify the biggest risk factors in your startup businessConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Before co-founding Truebill (now Rocket Money), Yahya Mokhtarzada and his brothers were always starting companies together. From the traditional lemonade stand to shoveling driveways, their ventures were always evolving. Together, they launched Free Webs—which became Webs.com—and Yahya found himself (and his brothers!) raising Series A when Yahya was graduating college.He left after a few years to serve as Vice President of Business Development at Nanigans where he helped grow the company from less than $1 million to over $20 million in run rate. After getting the gang back together, the team of brothers couldn't find a million dollar idea—so they started with a small one. The pain point was huge for people and momentum grew quickly. In late 2021, Truebill was bought by Rocket Companies for $1.275 billion. Yahya continues to serve as the CRO at Truebill, which is now called Rocket Money. In this episode, you will hear:How Yahya and his brothers started Truebill with a very small, specific pain point that he didn't believe had potential to be a big businessThe PR strategy Yahya used to do PR in-house and grow users from 3,000 to 30,000Why you need PR in the early stages of your startup, but should focus your energy on the channels you can control in later stagesConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Joe Keeley's love for hockey led him into entrepreneurship in one of the most unique ways you've ever heard! Today, Keeley is the CEO and Co-founder of JustiFi Technologies, a venture backed fintech business providing payments and fintech infrastructure and strategy for vertical SaaS platforms. In this episode, you will hear:How Joe accidentally started a very successful small business and the powerful moment when a recruiter moved Joe away from a career in corporate and on his path of entrepreneurshipWhat Joe did to reorient himself after successfully exiting his first companyWhy you MUST do things that don't scale before you can begin to scale your startupConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Doug Ludlow grew up in Modesto, an agricultural town in Central California. Despite Modesto city's proximity to Silicon Valley, the city is almost entirely cut off from the technology industry, which is the economic engine of the 21st century. He helped start MainStreet in part to bring back good jobs and upward mobility to the people living in his hometown.Before Mainstreet, Doug split his time between entrepreneurship (founding The Happy Home Company, Hipster, and madKast) and leadership roles at top technology companies, including Google and AOL. In this episode, you will hear:How Doug kicked started his entrepreneurial journey with a textbook import businessAll about Doug's experience in the founding class of TechstarsWhy “moments of delight” was key to Mainstreet's growth strategy and the fun, unique ways that Doug and his team implemented it Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Lisha Bell is cofounder of BLXVC, an angel syndicate of moms funding Black and Brown founders. She is also the co-founder of the Women of Color Capital Collective, a women of color led group ensuring equitable distribution of capital  for women of color. She is the host of the Sisters with Ventures Podcast that aims to tell the stories of women in VC. Bell is also the deal flow lead for Pipeline Angels.She has over 20 years of demonstrated technology innovation focused on digital money movement solutions and is currently at PayPal Ventures where she leads the Economic Opportunity Fund, the 100M investment into emerging fund managers.  In this episode, you will hear:Why VC wouldn't let Lisha in and what she did about itWhat founders should know about the shift in current valuationsWhere we can go from here and what marginalized founders can do to get the funding they deserveConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Dominic Kalms is CEO of a new venture backed Fintech company B Generous, which is revolutionizing how people donate to nonprofits through the advent of the first ever philanthropic credit product. B Generous is backed by some of the top VCs, Banks, and  institutional investors in the US and was just accepted into the highly selective Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program. He has raised over $120M in venture and philanthropic capital during his career and has been featured in an array of media publications where he discusses philanthropy and impact. In this episode, you will hear:How a would-be actor made it to Wall Street, and eventually made his way to the Senate Finance CommitteeHow a clear vision and personal credibility helped Dominic successfully raise two rounds of capitalHow Dominic created the first ever philanthropic credit productWhy curated outreach on LinkedIn has been Dominic's favorite strategy for growthConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Samantha Citro Alexander is the Co-Founder of bitewell, a food health company on a mission to improve your health through food. She came onboard as co-founder after a LOT of conversations with the original founder and after asking herself, “Do I believe in the product that we're building and the problem that we're solving?”The answer was yes, and now bitewell is working to change the way we eat.Prior to co-founding bitewell, Samantha worked at The Estée Lauder Companies as the Chief of Staff to Jane Lauder and as the Director of Integrated Marketing, where she co-created Jefacon, a women's empowerment and leadership summit celebrating the Beauty of Being a Boss.In this episode, you will hear:How Sam's acting training gave her a strong marketing skill setWhat Sam did to learn how to make every new customer a customer for lifeHow Sam met her co-founder and why she decided to join the company full timeWhat bitewell looked like in the idea stage and how the founders pivotedConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Military life often requires wearing lots of hats, and that's especially true for Monica Fullerton, founder of Spouse-ly. Named a Trailblazer in Tech by Military Spouse Magazine, Forbes Next 1000 List, and recently named on the MIGHTY 25 list as one of the most influential leaders supporting the military community, Fullerton is an ambitious entrepreneur, twin mom, and Air Force spouse. In an effort to provide highly-transient military families, as well as those that have previously served, a space to market their products and services regardless of their duty station, Monica came up with an idea to emphasize learning and income-generating opportunities for the creators, service providers, and entrepreneurs within the military family.In this episode, you will hear:Why Monica's dream to become the next Oprah is what drove her to tap into the power of communication and use it successfully to grow Spouse-lyAbout the inspiring moment when Monica realized that there needed to be a platform to harness the skill and expertise of passionate military spousesHow being “closed-minded” kept Spouse-ly from growing in the beginning and what Monica did to change her mindset and successfully move forwardWhy the art of storytelling is so important Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Co-founders of Caire Beauty Celeste Lee and Lorrie King were both grade-school entrepreneurs. Both are graduates of The Wharton School. Both started in finance.Both knew they were onto something ‘important' when their friends were constantly asking for skincare recommendations because their long-time moisturizers and regimens were not ‘doing' it. After meeting with scientists to truly understand how and why skin aging changes after 40 and again at the onset of actual menopause, they realized there was an opportunity to really educate and empower modern women by empowering their skin with science-backed, clean formulated, hormone-responsive skincare solutions. In other words, skincare for grownups.In this episode, you will hear Lorrie share:About the VERY practical college major that set Lorrie up for successLorrie's unusual path into beauty and skincareWhat you need to know about accelerators and how to decide if one is right for your startup journeyLorrie and Celeste's biggest regret as foundersConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Named Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay Military Spouse of the Year 2019 and MCAS Miramar Military Spouse of the Year 2022, Michelle Penczak is a virtual assistant by trade and a military spouse by love. Her husband Sean is a pilot in the Marine Corps, and through multiple relocations and deployments, Michelle built a vibrant, thriving independent virtual assistant business for herself. This grew into the business that is Squared Away today.In this episode, you will hear:How Michelle turned her thriving freelance business into a scalable startup companyWhy she never planned on being a CEOThe way Squared Away reverse engineered their affiliate programConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Cara Oppenheimer and Cary Telander Fortin are creative social entrepreneurs who founded goodbuy, a first-of-its-kind online shopping tool that connects consumers with small businesses that align with their values, and does so in a simple and streamlined way. These two powerhouse mamas bonded over new babies and breastfeeding. When Cara had a big idea about how and what she could do to give consumers easy opportunities to shop small instead of at mega retailers, she texted Cary in the early hours of the morning and goodbuy was born.In this episode, you will hear:How these co-founders focused on a product-cultural moment fit instead of a particular nicheThe nitty gritty of building strong messaging and organic growth to grow a large waitlistWhat combination of strategies on Instagram have been essential to getting the goodbuy message outConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Lynn Power spent much of her 30 year career running and transforming agency brands. She recently left the big agency world to launch MASAMI, a premium clean haircare brand which launched in February 2020.In this episode, Lynn shares the small steps she has taken to move her brand forward through the pandemic and beyond. She shares the importance of taking control by taking action each and every day.20% off with code RENEGADE at lovemasami.comIn this episode, you will hear:Why being a receptionist is a great way to start in your career or in a new industryOne of the biggest differences between working in corporate and working in startupHow Lynn grew their email list from 2,500 to over 30,000 leadsWhy strategic partnerships were the biggest growth tool for MASAMI (And the important things you need to consider before launching partnerships for your business.)Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Swarnali Mitra is currently an early-stage investor at Anthemis Group where she invests in female founded and co-founded companies at the pre-seed/seed stages. Her background spans across engineering, product, public policy and capital markets and she is most interested in solving the hard problems of fintech. She talks about the importance of funding female founders (and how we can do it!) as well as the key things you should consider highlighting as a founder pitching for funding before building traction. (Spoiler: Swarnali LOVES founders who are able to articulate the potential for long-term sustainability.)In this episode, you will hear more about:Swarnali's path from engineering to venture capitalWhat we can do as an industry to see the 2% of venture capital dollars going to women increaseWhy we can be optimistic about the current landscape for startup fundingThe core qualities that an early-stage founder should be focused onConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

After developing Hashimoto's and guttate psoriasis, Elaine Morrison went on a health journey to find the answers to put her autoimmune illnesses into remission. She radically changed her diet to reverse her symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, hair loss and dry skin. Supplementing with collagen was a game changer, and in 2015, she launched a collagen water with no previous experience in the beverage industry.  She learned a lot from the collagen water and re-launched with a powder collagen under her own name a few years later. Elaine Wellness is now growing grassroots-style and Elaine is sharing exactly how she's doing it.In this episode, you will hear:Why Elaine decided not to move forward with her collagen water businessThe steps Elaine took to master her marketing funnelHow Elaine Wellness is growing from the activation of brand advocatesThe strategy Elaine used to find partnerships that actually convertConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Robin Doyle, the founder of Beautyologie—a fair trade and ethically-sourced online marketplace for conscious consumers who want beauty products that make a difference, not just on the surface of their skin, but in the world we live in— decided on a humanities major in college because she learned that it meant she wouldn't have to take math classes. That journalism degree led her to work at a teen magazine, which gave her the opportunity to interview celebrities like Britney Spears. She moved into a position as a fashion editor.Today, Robin has 25+ years of experience in the beauty industry as a writer and publicist and is a passionate advocate for beauty brands that use the industry as a vehicle for social change. In this episode, you will hear more about:How Robin's early career in journalism led her into the PR industryThe first steps Robin took to validate her business ideaWhat you need to know if you're trying to generate PR on a budgetConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Olivia Hipkins is the Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner of Gaia Global Ventures as well as the Founder of Green Atlas Consulting. Through this work, she works with investors and target investment companies across venture capital and private equity to integrate sustainability in capital allocation decisions, empowering investment professionals to see sustainability as an opportunity for positive impact and returns. Olivia's big goals to change the world led her into finance, but she quickly learned that she was not meant to work within such a fixed structure. She launched her fund to focus on the “unsexy”, yet essential sectors that truly make an impact on our communities.In this episode, you will hear:Why going into finance was Olivia's path to change the worldWhat you need to know about startup flexibility and how Olivia is redrawing lines around funding startups in the earliest stagesWhy the “underloved” startups might be the most important ones to fund and growThe 3 big things that Olivia is looking for from foundersConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Jess Hershfield is the founder and CEO of Just Enough Wines, a premium canned wine brand based out of San Francisco. They focus on high-quality wine, in the convenience of a can. After working at Google, Uber, and Lime, Jess had a fantastic resume but just wasn't passionate about her work. She decided to leave to solve a problem that she cared about.Along the way she found an amazing co-founder and dealt with the challenges that came with breaking into an unfamiliar industry dominated by men.In just a few short years, Jess has accomplished a lot, and in this episode, you will hear:Why her first startup failed and what she learned from itAll about their specific micro-influencer strategy and why it's more effective than what you've tried in the pastHow they managed to execute win-win partnerships and how it helped them get exposureDon't forget! You can get 15% off Just Enough Wines when you use code Renegade15 at checkout. Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Sheera's business idea is completely unique and it's morphed and grown over the years. She shares the ups and downs, the testing and pivots, and everything in between that has gotten Zygo to the place it's at today. Zygo is now the first ever tool that swimmers use to stream audio and live communication underwater. It's not only used to listen to music, but also for swimming teachers to use it as walkie talkie for their students. The company has raised a total of $5 million to date and has sold over 15,000 units.In this episode, you will hear more about:The first moment Sheera realized that she could be a RenegadeHow Sheera used flyers (organic marketing!) and Classpass (digital marketing!) to sell out the very first group swim classes for ZygoHow they discovered that their original business model wasn't scalable—and the steps Sheera and her co-founder took to take it from small business to startupConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Jennifer Gligoric is the Founder of Entrepods, a cutting-edge show asking the top entrepreneurial experts "So now what?" when it comes to their business and life. She's also a certified business coach and fractional consultant specializing in business crisis intervention & remote workplaces. For the past decade, she's been helping companies build the solid foundations they need to repair, strengthen & abundantly grow their businesses by harnessing the power of technology in virtual workplaces using the principles of Ethical Entrepreneurship.In this episode, you will hear more about:The powerful moment in Jennifer's life that made her realize how powerful a life of service could beHow being so deeply involved in the sales process enabled Jennifer to learn the key factors every business needs fixed in order to scaleWhy sloppy HR is probably what's keeping you from scalingConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Justin Clegg has been profiled by VentureBeat, Deseret News and Entrepreneur.com and is a frequent public speaker. Justin has studied, lived and operated in a variety of international locations including Singapore, China, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mozambique and New Delhi and is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, French and conversational Hindi—which has led to his global perspective.He co-founded three Silicon Valley startups and today we'll talk about AllSet, a conversational texting platform for home service businesses that automates personalized SMS conversations to increase tips, reviews, referrals and more.In this episode, you will hear more about:Why Justin's feeling of being an outsider gave him the compassion, empathy, and desire to launch a career in techThe reason Justin lost sleep obsessing over another startup's concept and how it inspired him to start a brand new companyHow connecting directly with customers led Justin and his team to completely scrap their app—and how that pivot was a game changer in their businessConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Henley Vazquez is a self-proclaimed hotel junkie driven by match-making the perfect property to each traveler's unique style. Once upon a time, Henley founded and led Passported, a boutique travel agency with a focus on making family travel both accessible and enjoyable. But the pandemic changed everything. After rethinking how things needed to be done in the travel industry, she co-founded Fora, a new startup that empowers anyone to transform their passion for travel into meaningful revenue through flexible and fun work. Henley fulling admits that building a startup is a team sport and explains why “being the dumbest person in the room” is actually a CEO superpower.In this episode, you will hear more about:Why Henley found herself hiding in the back of a coffee shop after her small business failed…. And how being “found out” was exactly the inspiration she neededHow Fora used the network effect to explode their waitlist to over 17,000 peopleHow Henley determined that raising venture capital was the right thing to do to grow ForaConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Ahmed Elsamadisi is the Founder and CTO at Narrator.ai, a data modeling platform that allows data teams to answer any and all data questions within minutes. He is a passionate and driven entrepreneur who began to obsess over how humans and robots make decisions…. Which led him to launch this amazing company which is solving big problems for businesses today.Before Narrator, Ahmed joined WeWork as the first hire on their data team. In just four years since the founding of Narrator, Ahmed graduated from startup accelerator Y Combinator and was named a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2021.Check out this episode to hear more about:Why finding the right team is critical to your successHow you can gain funding for your startup by selling “the dream”The key difference between building different or building better and how it affects your approach to growing a startup (and funding it!)Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

In this episode, FounderSuite CEO Nathan Beckord discusses how his inside knowledge of the fundraising process was eye-opening and led to a huge discovery—running a sloppy fundraising process could keep your startup from raising. That's when he came up with the idea for FounderSuite—a venture-backed company that makes the leading “funding stack” (investor database, CRM, pitch deck hosting, and Investor Update tools) for startups raising capital. Since launching in 2016, users have raised over $3 Bln in seed and venture capital.Prior to starting Foundersuite, Nathan spent ten years working with over 150 startups as interim CFO, Business Developer, and Advisor. Nathan has an MBA in Entrepreneurship, a BSC in Finance, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).Check out this episode to hear more about:Making smart pivots in your business based on what your customer really needsHow you can get ahead by being will to experiment with unique marketing strategiesWhy going with your gut is really what will build your businessConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Courtney Boyd Meyers is an entrepreneur, environmentalist, and writer. But, there came a point when she couldn't “sit back and watch the world burn”. Lucky for the world, she co-founded AKUA, a Brooklyn-based company creating plant-based foods from locally sourced and regeneratively ocean-farmed kelp—and home of “the world's first Kelp Burger”.She began her career as a journalist at Forbes Magazine and The Next Web and has been recognized as one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business. On Startup Renegades, she shares her amazing journey into this new food categoryCheck out this episode to hear more about:Why having an omnichannel growth approach is essential to the rapid development of your businessHow a small group of dedicated customers can help entrepreneurs scale fasterWhy PR (done right!) is a game-changer for your brandRenegades10 for 10% off your orderConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Lauren Wang launched The Flex Co. in 2016 with the dream of transforming the lives of people with periods. Today, Flex is the top-selling sustainable period care brand in the country, sold in over 25,000 retail locations and online. Flex is the only company in the world to offer both disposable and reusable menstrual discs, in addition to menstrual cups—providing users with the most comfortable period week of their lives.Lauren joined the Startup Renegades podcast to share how listening to her gut—and knowing when to listen to other people—was crucial for scaling her brand.Check out this episode to hear more about:How making a checklist of the things you DON'T know is a strategic growth strategyWhy some of the best business decisions are unconventional choicesHow to grow your business by being a good listener and by being totally obsessed with your customerRENEGADE for 10% offConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Goodmylk Co. founder Brooke Harris is on a mission to “keep it real” with organic, truly nutritional plant mylks made from the good stuff, and nothing else. No chemicals, no binders, no fillers and above all—no compromises. Goodmylk Co. plant mylks are available in over 100 California coffee shops and grocery stores, including Blue Bottle, Erewhon, and Gelsons. And due to popular demand, they're now available to order directly at goodmylk.co.In this episode, Brooke discusses her passion for food and wellness and how it led to discovering a career fit for her. She shares how she builds relationships with brands and handles partnerships in order to grow her business in the direction she wants.Check out this episode to hear more about:Scaling through social media and brand partnerships with companies you trustSaying yes(!) to all opportunities that come your wayProblem solving through understanding logistics and accessibility to your customersConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Felicia Curcuru always knew she would be an entrepreneur. She was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. She was later the first employee, Head of User Experience and Director of Business Development at FundersClub, a leading online venture capital firm.But when she was first introduced to the world of child welfare when her sister adopted two children many years ago, she found the thing she knew she could build a strong business upon.Through her experiences as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster youth in San Francisco, she saw a lot of opportunity for technology to improve the outcomes of families and children in the foster care and adoption world. And that's when Binti was born. Check out this episode to hear more about:How creating her own “grad school” experiences gave Felicia incredibly valuable opportunities in the startup spaceThe unique way Felicia came up with her own business idea by identifying the problems she cared most aboutThe reason the first version of her company failed and the touch choices she made to pivot successfullyWhy confidence may be the most important part of your pitchFelicia's #1 growth strategy for scaling a business that relies on government contractsConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Eliza Blank is the Founder & CEO at The Sill, a digitally native direct-to-consumer houseplant brand on a mission to modernize the garden center experience. The Sill has 9 retail stores in the United States and recently opened stores in Boston, Chicago, and Park Slope in Brooklyn.Prior to launching The Sill, Eliza served as a Brand Strategist at Wolff Olins, one of the leading brand agencies in the world, as well as a Brand Manager at Living Proof. In this episode, Eliza shares how she grew up surrounded by plants and how moving to the concrete jungle of NYC changed all that. She discusses how her business changed from Eliza packing up plants to deliver within her neighborhood to a full e-commerce operation that ships across the United States. Check out this episode to hear more about:How you can become a product expertThe importance of adapting both your physical and digital spaces to be accessible channels to your customers.Why understanding your customer on a deep, personal level is a game changer for your businessUse code StartupRenegades10 for 10% your purchases at The SillConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Sashee Chandran, founder and CEO of Tea Drops, worked as a Business Analyst for Fortune 100 brands such as eBay. She always loved to drink tea, but found that she just didn't have the time to go through the whole process and created her own solution to this problem. Before long she had requests for her product and filed her own patent.Today, Tea Drops has been featured in Forbes, GMA, and Oprah Magazine leading Sashee to be placed on Inc.'s Female Founders 100 list. In this episode, Sashee discusses how she developed such an innovative product idea and the marketing territory that comes along with it. She explains the startup founder learning curve and how you can make adjustments in your pitching and the best strategies to gain investors. Check out this episode to hear more about:How anyone can (and should!) file a patentWhy pitch competitions might just be your smartest fundraising strategyWhy trade shows can be an absolute game changer in a startup's early stageConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Stefanie Diaz, the host of She Conquers Capital, is an elite capital raise strategist. Her experience working with companies such as Hustle Fund and Zane Ventures Fund led her to her passion of bridging the funding gap of underrepresented groups. Stefanie launched The Women Only Experience (WOE) to support female founders in their business. This led Stefanie to launching a coaching program centered around uplifting women; these combined actions led Stefanie to being named an “Atlanta Startup Wonder Woman”.In this episode, Stefanie discusses the importance of having a seat on both sides of the table. She talks about frequently being the only woman in the room and needing to navigate a male dominated industry. Stefanie shares the importance of finding what makes you unique and the path to impactful pitching for your business. Check out this episode to hear more about:How to take to carve out time for your networking journeyHow founders grow and gain credibility and resiliencyHow to pitch like a thought leaderConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Stacy Tuschl is the founder of the Foot Traffic Formula. she started her own business in her parents' backyard at the age of 18 and turned it into a multimillion dollar business. She is also the host of the Foot Traffic Formula podcast that has over 1 million downloads and is frequently in the top 30 marketing podcasts on iTunes.In this episode, Stacy discusses starting a business from the ground up and creating a successful scalable business. She tells the incredible story of starting up not one, but two businesses, and how that experience illuminated her love for marketing. Through this passion, she helps others grow their businesses. Stacy believes that every business needs to find their “one thing” and must find the customers who will say “I need this!”In this episode, Stacy gives great advice on how to: Identify the one product that will take your business to the next levelFocus on daily sales to figure out what activities are actually working so you can scaleEmbrace trial and error, make mistakes, and move forward in your business with confidenceConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Jaleh Bisharat, co-founder and CEO of NakedPoppy, has built some of Silicon Valley's most vibrant brands from the ground up. After serving as VP Marketing at Amazon.com in the late 1990's, she held board seats or c-suite marketing roles at OpenTable, Upwork, Eventbrite, Skillshare, and Wealthfront. Very few people out there can build a business like Jaleh.In this episode, Jaleh discusses what she learned as a child when her family lost everything and how it gave her the mindset she needed to succeed later in life. Jaleh shares how defining NakedPoppy's moat and moving slower to get it right was actually the best strategy of all.Check out this episode to hear more about:The career power you hold when you have a positive attitude and positive energyHow to go from the riskiest hire to the biggest power player in a businessHow focusing on your people can be your best growth strategyConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Jesse Draper is a mother of 3 boys and founding partner of Halogen Ventures focused on early stage investing in consumer technology companies led by female and co-ed teams. Draper, the first solo female GP in Los Angeles is also a 4th generation venture capitalist. She is a fierce advocate for investing in women and the opportunity for using technology and innovation to solve some of the biggest issues facing women and families today. Jesse's original career was actress—first on a Nickelodeon show before adding several other projects to her resume. After a bad casting experience, she decided not to continue in the industry. Then, from her parents' garage, Jesse launched the Emmy nominated series, The Valley Girl Show where she interviewed industry powerhouses like Sheryl Sandberg and Elon Musk.She launched Halogen Ventures to help founders build their networks, get brand exposure, hire great talent, raise follow-on rounds and find their path to acquisition or IPO. In this episode, you will hear:The defining moment that changed Jesse's career trajectoryHow one simple business idea helped Jesse build an amazing and powerful networkJesse's best tips for pitching potential investorsConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Jessica Hoskin is the co-founder of HIKI, a new line of everyday sweat products made for ANY body. Hiki is a brand with products created together to show that when people are seen, heard, and invited into the process the results are far better than “normal”.In this episode, Jessica shares her (several!) startup stories and explains how she got the opportunity to join an established brand as co-founder. Jessica goes into detail on those first challenges and tells us how she overcame them through creativity and a willingness to fail.In this episode, Jessica gives great advice on how: To conduct effective market research and make your target audience feel valued as part of the building processTo build an advisory board to make influencer marketing more effectiveHer experience in grassroots marketing has helped to build a successful company Use START30 for 30% off your entire order on https://myhiki.com. Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Start with community. Such simple advice! But the road to build Mighty Networks wasn't a simple one, as CEO and founder Gina Bianchini will tell you. Before Mighty Networks, Gina was the first entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz. She was also the CEO and co-founder of Ning, a pioneering global platform for creating niche social networks she started with Marc Andreessen in 2004. Under her leadership, Ning grew to ~100 million active users across 300,000 social networks led by brands and creators across subcultures, professional networks, entertainment, politics, and education. The company was sold for $150M in 2011.On this episode of Startup Renegades, Gina talks about all the companies, skills, and connections she built on her journey to launching the premiere SaaS platform for creators and brands to start and grow businesses. (Powered by community of course!)Gina has a wealth of business-building knowledge and shares:How Gina's life experiences have led her to unique opportunities as an entrepreneurHow her passion for community culture drives Mighty Network's successHer biggest takeaways for launching a successful business in today's ecosystemConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Ever wonder how you're going to create, launch, and scale your fashion brand? The incredible Shannon Lohr can show you the way.Shannon is the founder of Factory45, the online business school trusted by over 500 fashion entrepreneurs since 2014. Over the years she's worked with aspiring designers, all over the globe, to launch or grow their brands in a way that's better for people and the planet. Shannon got her start in 2010 when she co-founded {r}evolution apparel, a sustainable clothing brand for female travelers and minimalists that was featured by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.com.In this episode of Startup Renegades, Shannon shares her journey into fashion and the key takeaways she had from building a community and launching a Kickstarter campaign that raised 3 times the initial goal. Shannon's #1 tip for entrepreneurs? Build an audience before you have anything to sell.Check out this episode to hear more about:How her love of travel and desire “not to get a real job” put her on the path to entrepreneurshipThe importance of be willing to have real conversations and elicit real feedback from customers All about her new business, Factory45 and why it's the go-to program for aspiring fashion entrepreneursUnderstanding the CEO mindset as an evolution of a person, not a title Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com

Marian Leitner is founder and CEO of Archer Roose Wines, one of the leading canned wine companies in the US. Marian is on a mission to democratize fine wine by making the wine industry more inclusive and leveraging format to fit the lifestyles of modern consumers.Marian's wines can be found in James Beard Award Winning restaurants, grocery stores, and on JetBlue flights. Marian has been named one of the top 10 entrepreneurs by Boston Harbor angels. And she recently welcomed Elizabeth Banks as creative director for the brand.Startup Renegades' listeners can get 25% off your first order with coupon code Leitner25Check out this episode to hear more about:How a family with no vineyard or history in the wine industry built a thriving canned wine businessHow Marian Leitner and her husband David re-envisioned how we view wineThe importance of understanding your customer and making her feel seenConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Arjun Rai is a NYC-based entrepreneur who is on a mission to support small businesses with the power of visualized data science and artificial intelligence for digital marketing at HelloWoofy.com. A firm believer that every SMB should have an unfair advantage to compete against unlimited marketing budgets. He has raised from professional investors and personally invested nearly $500,000 in pre-seed VC funding as well as obtained corporate partners (including Fortune 500 companies, such as Microsoft and Google) resulting in over $135,000 in strategic resources.Arjun is a highly focused and mission-driven entrepreneur and he shared many insights on how a software business can find their place in the sun and scale off of their first successes.Check out this episode to hear more about:How launching with App Sumo gave Hello Woofy their big startThe strategy Arjun used to maximize his successful partnership with App Sumo A peek inside the Hello Woofy funnelConnect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com