Startups for Good

Chris Fredericks founded Empowered Ventures, serves as president & CEO, and is a member of the board of directors. Chris has a diverse background in management, accounting and finance, business valuations, mergers and acquisitions, operations, people development, and strategy.In 2010, he proposed and led the acquisition of TVF (www.tvfinc.com) on behalf of the employees using an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), which enabled a successful ownership transition for the founder. After overseeing a decade of success as an employee-owned company, Chris and TVF launched Empowered Ventures (www.empowered.ventures) in 2020 to grow and diversify the ESOP through acquisition. Inspired by TVF's transformative employee ownership experience, Chris led Empowered Ventures to define its purpose which is to perpetually create life-changing financial and personal wellbeing outcomes for its employee owners.Chris resides near Burlington, Vermont, having relocated from his home state of Indiana in 2022. He is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington's Kelley School of Business with a bachelor's degree in accounting. A former CPA, Chris started his career in public accounting in the nonprofit sector before joining TVF in 2005, where he served in various positions including chief financial officer, before serving as president from April 2010 through March 2021.He's a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington Kelley School of Business with a bachelor's degree in accounting. As a former CPA, Chris started his career in public accounting in the nonprofit sector, before joining the company in 2005, where he served in various positions, including chief financial officer and President from April 2010 through March 2021.We talked about the differences between a stock option plan and a worker ownership plan. Chris shared the differences between a company being worker owned and being worker managed. In addition, we discussed the differences between that and a co-op. Also, we talked about how he leads with open book management and creates alignment among different leaders and the team in general. And, we talk about what it means for an owner to sell to a worker owned company and what it means for the workers of the company that's purchased.“We're in a fortunate position that when good opportunities arise that the fit our profile, …, both from a returns perspective, but and also all the other critically important…, orientations or requirements we're looking for in a business, that we're able to pull the trigger.” - Chris FredericksConnect with Chris on Twitter @esopchris and on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Jeannie founded Funding U to provide a responsible loan option for academically achieving, low income students who needed last gap funds to complete college, but for whom the only available options were high interest rate credit cards. Her drive to solve this problem came from a decade of working in education nonprofits in Atlanta and an understanding that a mother's education level holds the single strongest correlation to outcomes of infant mortality, child literacy, household employment and income, and likelihood to live in poverty. Today, Funding U has originated $42M in affordable student loans to more than 4000 academically achieving undergraduates, 40% of whom are from families with income of $40,000 or less, and 60% are first generation 4-year college students. In 2020, the Company launched a Platform as a Service product, “Powered by Funding U,” which provides end to end data and technology solutions for organizations that want to provide outcomes based, income share repayment loan options for low income or other marginalized Americans. Funding U has raised ~$80M in equity and debt financing from investors including Goldman Sachs, Mackenzie Scott and Deciens Capital. Prior to starting Funding U, Jeannie was the first employee of the Atlanta Girls' School in Atlanta, Georgia, where she acted as Founding Director of Admissions. She then became Director of Development for Literacy Action and then worked for the Rollins Center for Early Literacy at the Atlanta Speech School as a Strategic Consultant. She is a currently a Trustee of Atlanta Girls' School, served on the Emory Board of Visitors from 2017 to 2019, was a Founding Board Member of Girls on the Run, Atlanta, 1998-2001, and was the first alumna trustee of The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 1994-1996.Jeannie is a graduate of Princeton University, where she obtained a B.A. cum laude, in English Literature and American Studies. She has launched three other successful ‘startups' - her children, Anna, Peter, and Robert - ages 22, 21, and 18. Jeannie joins me today, we start at a very high level about the industry in this conversation, we get very tactical for early stage founders.“I feel I fight and resist and tell my team to resist any binary conversations or a binary way of thinking.” - Jeannie TarkentonConnect with Jeannie on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

David Blake operates at the intersection of the future of work and the future of politics. David Blake has spent his career innovating in formal education and lifelong learning. He is on a mission to future proof our workforce and use learning and skills to enable everyone to fulfill their personal missions. David is the co-founder and CEO of Degreed. Millions of individuals and hundreds of organizations use Degreed's platform to discover and answer for all of their learning and skills. Prior to Degreed, he helped launched a competency-based, accredited university and was a founding team member of university-admissions startup Zinch (acquired by NASDQ: CHGG). David was selected as a Top EdTech Entrepreneur by the Stanford d.School EdTech Lab, sponsored by Teach For America and NewSchools Venture Fund. He is the co-author of the book, The Expertise Economy: How the smartest companies use learning to engage, compete, and succeed and the co-creator of the Skills Quotient. He is a sought-after expert on the topic of the future of work and learning, speaking at companies such as Google, Deloitte, and Salesforce and at conferences globally.David joins me today to discuss the surprising downside of curiosity, how artificial intelligence impacts learning and earning. Also, we talked about the growing skills gap, the best way to hire, how he learned to be a founder, and the book he thinks best captures what it's like to be a founder.“I find, the best way to get started is to be intentional and to have a goal.” - David BlakeConnect with David on LinkedIn and Twitter or email David at D@davidblake.com. To find out more about David's companies visit degreed.com or bookclub.com.Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Nikhil is the technical cofounder of Hearth. Hearth was founded to give home improvement contractors and businesses the tools to achieve the American Dream. Hearth does this by providing an all-in-one tool suite for owners to manage their operations covering: lead management, quoting, customer financing options, invoicing, contracts, payments, and checking accounts. Nikhil has operated the business since its inception seven years ago, from individual contributor to VP level in product, data, revenue operations, and customer success. Over his time there, Hearth has grown to serve over 14,000 users, a $23M revenue run rate, and raised over $60M in venture capital funding.Nikhil joins me today to talk about finding product market fit, how a founder's role evolves over time. We discuss the importance of feedback loops and how to build them into your business. As well as the best advice you ever received as a founder.“Data is an asset, and you want to collect as much of it as possible upfront to create a full profile of your customer base and really understand them.” - Nikhil PatConnect with Nikhil on Twitter and LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Normally on Startups For Good, we interview external guests. Today, we turn the mic back around and focus on Purpose Built and what we're up to. Recently, we did a webinar called “Ready to Build. How do I know if I'm ready to be a startup founder?” Have you had a nagging feeling that you'd one day like to start a company or have people told you they want to work with you or for you? Perhaps you're in a moment of a career transition where you're exploring your next steps, you could consider yourself a future founder. But how do you know if you're ready? And what are the things you should consider?I'm CEO and co-founder of Purpose Built, joined by Reini Chipman, Head of Human Capital in the webinar, and we talked about what makes a great startup founder, what common misconceptions there are and when to know you're ready. Part of what was fun for me is being able to incorporate some of the previous episodes that we've done, Episode 86 with Noam Wasserman, author of The Founders Dilemma. We referenced Alex Lazarow, author of Out-Innovate episode 20 and Ali Tamaseb, author of Super Founders episode 64. Check out that one as well. If you want to learn more about purpose built there's our website. And you can also listen to the Access Ventures Podcast that I was interviewed for their More Than Profit December 8 episode. Taylor's HBR article about MVPs is online here.Today on Startups for Good we cover:What makes a great startupMyths about VC backed foundersCareer GoalsKnowing when you are readyFirst steps to starting a businessThe value of a startup studioThe process that Purpose Built Founders go throughSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or

Adam Jackson is the co-founder and CEO of Freelance Labs, builders of Braintrust, the first user-controlled talent network that provides enterprises with the highly skilled technical and design talent they need.Prior to founding Braintrust, Adam co-founded Doctor on Demand, the popular video telemedicine provider, with daytime talk show personality Dr. Phil, as well as his son Jay McGraw. Other notable ventures include DriverSide, the first website specifically designed for car owners, which was acquired by Advance Auto Parts in September of 2011 and MarketSquare, the first online local shopping destination on the Internet which was acquired by Intuit in September of 2006. Adam is a passionate Angel investor in 45+ companies including LTSE, SuperHuman, Automatic, Apero Health, Zenefits, and more.Adam joins me today to talk a lot about marketplace dynamics in web two and web three. We also discuss how he's taken his learnings from growing his marketplace businesses before into a new world aligning incentives in the web three world we talked about compliance risks. We also talked about management challenges, and about advice that he has for founders on how to become a better storyteller.“You have to be telling a big, powerful story, there's a disconnect with founders, it's the art of the possible. What if this could exist? How cool would that be? With VCs, It's the art of the probable. How many bets do I need to make? And what do they need to look like for me to return the fund and hopefully raise the next one? So there's, there's a little bit of misalignment there.” - Adam JacksonToday on Startups for Good we cover:Braintrust and it's uniquenessHow the tokens workDifferences in extracting more value than you are providingCommon mistakes when pitching to investorsHow to approach competitionConnect with Adam on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Shannon Farley is an experienced social entrepreneur. She was the founding Executive Director of Spark, the world's largest network of Millennial philanthropists. Prior to joining Spark, Shannon helped start The W. Haywood Burns Institute, a MacArthur Award-winning juvenile justice reform organization. Shannon holds a BA in American Studies from Georgetown University and an MS in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics.Shannon joins me today to chat about tech nonprofits, and often startup tech nonprofits. Fast Forward celebrates nine years of accelerating dozens of tech nonprofits. And in this episode, we discuss when to choose a for profit versus a nonprofit model. We discuss that definition more in depth, we talk about the capital crunch that many experience and how to solve it, we talk about compensation levels in nonprofits, and we talk about the new program at Fast Forward.“It's a terrible, great idea, a nonprofit for nonprofits to advance nonprofits. But it was needed.” - Shannon FarleyToday on Startups for Good we cover:Selecting for profit or non-profit business modelMain differences between for profit and nonprofitCapital landscape for tech nonprofitsCapital requirements at a tech nonprofitThe tradition of giving away wealthThe donor's view on compensationOther obstacles that are missingIn person vs. online collaborationConnect with Shannon Farley on LinkedInTo find Shannon's Tech Nonprofit Playbook visit this websiteTo listen to Miles on the Access Venture podcast More Than ProfitSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Anna Counselman is co-founder at Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), a leading AI lending marketplace that partners with banks to improve access to affordable credit. Upstart helps millions of consumers who don't have access to credit, pay too much for it, or take on credit they can't ultimately afford. Anna leads business operations where she drives focus on operational scalability, employee experience, and culture-strategy alignment. Since co-founding Upstart, Anna has led Operations, People/HR, and myriad other initiatives before taking on Business Operations. Prior to Upstart, Anna led Gmail Consumer Operations as the business grew from 150 million to 450 million users and launched the global Enterprise Customer Programs team. Anna received a White House Champion of Change award and was recognized as one of Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 under 40. Anna graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University with a BA in Finance and Entrepreneurship.Anna joins me today to talk about a lot of great topics, including the best advice she got for mentors, how to scale yourself as a founder, changes in culture and operations when you run a public company versus startup. But how do you keep running at the same speed just as fast as a startup as your larger company? And how do you stay together as a co-founding team for the long term.“Make sure you keep a problem space that you are deeply interested in. Startups take longer than you expect. And so making sure that you select something that makes enough of a difference in the world, that it will keep you engaged and going as your business model might change.” - Anna CounselmanToday on Startups for Good we cover:Running a company after is goes publicManaging regulatory riskShifting the vision of the productPreparing for the founders experienceFacing challenges during an economic downturnConnect with Anna on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Before coming to YU, Noam was a professor at Harvard Business School for 13 years. He was also the founding director of the Founder Central initiative at the University of Southern California and the Lemann Chair in Entrepreneurship there. He won the MBA teaching awards at both Harvard and USC, and has written two bestselling books, The Founder's Dilemmas (2012) and Life Is a Startup (2018).Noam grew up in Los Angeles, received undergraduate degrees in engineering and business from the University of Pennsylvania, and worked as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist before attending Harvard for his MBA and his PhD. He has 8 children and 8 grandchildren."Noam joined me today and we discussed how to make a startup successful, to avoid the biggest pitfalls around team dynamics and people. We also talked about what's changed since his book came out. Are founders born or made? Is it good to found a business in a recession? How to have hard conversations, why it's worth it, and how to split equity with other founders.“I tend to think of the core of entrepreneurship as being a three legged stool…, there are a bunch of other things around it that are important supports, but the core of it is those three things. Those are the financing of the product and the people.” - Noam WassermanToday on Startups for Good we cover:Can entrepreneurship be taught?Having the right people at the right time in a startupHaving the ability to recover from mistakesEarly doubts from foundersPitfalls of founding teamsWays to prepare for personal life eventsCharacteristics of a good founderThe rise in coaching and mentorshipLearn more about Noam through his podcast and his bookSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Entrepreneur and investor with a love of learning, a passion for making dreams become reality and having a positive impact on the world. Husband, father and book addict.Miles is founder/CEO of Purpose Built Ventures Studio where he co-founds winning mission-driven companies with passionate entrepreneurs.Miles is an Investor in early-stage startups. As Founding Partner of Purpose Built Ventures, he previously invested in tech startups working to make people healthier or wealthier. He has invested in and advised dozens of companies at the earliest stages including Honor, Brightside Health, Remix, Notable Health, and Balto Software. Additionally, he has helped seed nonprofits such as Issue One, One Acre, and MakeHaven.Miles is an Entrepreneur. Starting his career as an entrepreneur while still a college student, he co-founded Higher One in his living room. As senior exec and later board chair, he led the company from idea to $200mil+ revenue, 750+ employees and IPO including making multiple acquisitions. He was proud to campaign internal culture and values including open communication and client service. Higher One also ranked highly on the national Great Place to Work list twice as well as Inc 500 and multiple other fast growth lists. Miles went on to start two other venture-backed startups: SeeClickFix (SaaS for government) where he serves on the board and OneUni (higher education via smartphone).Miles was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year regional winner and national finalist.Miles is a Podcast Host: Startups for Good is a podcast exploring high-growth and high-values ventures. Join us to hear how startups can be a force for good. Guests include founders of mission-driven companies, creators of startup nonprofits, and their investors/donors plus other inspiring thinkers and doers. http://startupsforgood.com/“The lesson for social benefit startups more broadly, is to make sure that your solution is full of other benefits besides positive externalities. Don't expect people just to want to do the right thing.” - Miles LasaterToday on Startups for Good we cover:Attracting early adopter customersPricing for valueBe optimistic and trust yourselfDon't confuse stocks and flowsBuilding relationshipsLinks mentioned in the show:Forward Obsessed Podcast featuring MilesLook forward to hearing him on an episode of the More Than Profit podcast by Access VenturesVision of FailureA Quantitative Approach to Product Market Fit articleStart Ups for Good websiteMiles' websiteNewsletter: https://mileslasater.substack.com/Writing: www.venturepatterns.comPersonal Website: http://www.mileslasater.comPodcast: http://www.startupsforgood.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/mileslasaterSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you...

Jon has over 15 years of experience in energy investing and project finance. Prior to launching Carbon Direct, he was the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of BBL Commodities, a commodity hedge fund. Jon started his career at J. Aron, the commodities division of Goldman Sachs where he managed a large proprietary trading book across global macro markets with an emphasis on commodities. Jon was then a partner at Glencore, managing the firm's US derivative business prior to its IPO.Jon's focus on climate change and negative emissions extends to his work at Columbia University where he sits on the board of the Center on Global Energy Policy. He has been a lecturer on energy issues at the university and helps steer the Carbon Dioxide Management program. He is also an advisor to Lawrence Livermore National Lab on negative emissions.Jonathan joins me today to discuss the combination of advising and investing and how you put those two pieces together. Also, what skills are needed in the climate space. We talked about the impact of the new law, the IRA, what he thinks of voluntary carbon credits. Finally we chat about some of the biggest challenges in building the company.“Our approach has always been that for carbon management to scale, and that's ultimately the goal of our firm is to enable a vibrant carbon management ecosystem.“ - Johnathan GoldbergToday on Startups for Good we cover:Carbon Management IndustryBusiness opportunities in climate techManaging conflicts between regulatory and commercial interestsFuture of carbon credit disclosuresThe importance of aviation fuelWhat's missing in CFO type skills in early stage companiesTo learn more about Carbon Direct on their websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Rafi Levi, BSc. Mechanical (Technion, Israel), MSc. N.A.M.E (University of Michigan, USA), has over 35 years of Engineering, project management, business development, and business management experience, in Israel and worldwide.Rafi joins me today to talk about how much fertilizer is wasted and turns into pollution because farmers don't have the data. The difference between agriculture tech and climate tech and how they can be merged. We discuss doing business in different countries and cultures. We talk about how important it is to be optimistic as a startup founder or employee, and about working with scientific co-founders and how to find early adopters.“My wife always says, '' You're so optimistic, you never plan for the worst. And I say no, no, I'm so optimistic because I completed planning for the worst. And now I hope for the best. I always plan for the worst.” - Rafi LeviToday on Startups for Good we cover:Current fertilizer assessment protocolsDots technologyBusiness sweet spotsSelecting the right business modelAg tech innovationsDistinguishing between science project or companyImportance of trusting a partnerConnect with Rafi on LinkedIn and on the Dots website Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Erin Levine is the CEO & Founder of Justice Tech company, Hello Divorce. After 16 years as a divorce lawyer, Erin knows just how broken, toxic, wildly inefficient and unreasonably expensive the family law system is - with Americans spending 30 billion a year on legal fees alone. No longer wanting to be a complicit participant in a process that routes spouses through war, Erin set out to revolutionize how consumers access the law and provide a kinder, easier and cheaper pathway to divorce. Ultimately, Erin's mission is to help people reorganize their lives and families with less stress and mess - providing a bridge to financial independence and emotional well being.Erin and I talked about the mission of Hello Divorce and why it's important barriers to more legal tech, or justice tech innovation. We talk about their fundraising process, and we dive into how to have hard conversations and why it's so important to founders.“We offer a new and different opportunity for people to get divorced, find solutions that are rooted in fairness, without necessarily making a huge mess out of their divorce.” - Erin LevineToday on Startups for Good we cover:Income differentialsDivorce trendsFinding solutions rooted in fairnessHelping couples come to an agreementInnovations in legal tech Challenges in building the businessHaving hard conversationsBig barriers to amicable divorceSome books recommended by Erin are Brene Brown's Daring Greatly and Dare to Lead. Also, Glennon Doyle's UntamedConnect with Erin on LinkedIn and Instagram or on the Hello Divorce websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Dr. Seth Feuerstein is the Founder and CEO of Oui Therapeutics. He has expertise across multiple areas of medicine, technology and business. . He is a founding board member of the Center for Biomedical and Interventional Technology at Yale and Executive Director of the Center for Digital Health, Innovation and Excellence. He teaches at the medical school and is the faculty advisor for Innovation in Healthcare at the Yale School of Medicine and has an appointment in the Department of Defense. He works across multiple sectors in healthcare including health insurance, healthcare startups, healthcare investing, clinical care delivery innovation and early-stage emerging medical technologies. He sits on multiple for-profit and nonprofit boards.Seth joins me today to discuss Oui Therapeutics, they built out their research based solution and they're in trials with adults, including the military. We handle a tough topic today around suicide and suicide prevention. If you or anyone you know are having suicidal thoughts, you can call 988, which is the new national crisis hotline or you can text the Crisis Text Hotline at 741741. We speak about mental health, we speak about behavioral health, we think about digital therapeutics, how you transition from academics to business and his journey.“It helps retrain them in how they identify when they're at risk, how they prevent being at risk, and what to do when they are at risk. Not unlike what happens, you know, when people have cardiac conditions, they learn about how to identify when things are going badly and when to go to the doctor.” - Seth FeuersteinToday on Startups for Good we cover:Understanding the rise in suicide rates Challenges and stressors on the brainWhat interventions are availablePatient experiences for those using Oui TherapeuticsThe limits of certain therapeuticsThe importance of university support of a projectHow to help someone who is sufferingConnect with Seth on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Jeff is a Co-Founder and CEO of Fig Tech. Fig creates onramps for underbanked Americans to repair their credit score and regain access to traditional financial services. Fig started as a collaboration with the United Way in Houston and became the first fintech to be both B Corp certified and a US Treasury recognized Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Fig's investors include Techstars, Upper90, Village Capital, and Purpose Built.Prior to Fig, Jeff previously worked at the Boston Consulting Group in strategy and consumer products. Jeff holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA in Applied Data Analytics from the Wharton School.Jeff joins me today to discuss his company Fig. They serve 400,000 customers. One of their products is a loan which average is $400 in size, so unsecured short term loan, they do all of this to serve all these customers with only about 15 employees. There's a lot to learn in this episode about picking your co-founder, his approach to prioritization, thinking about how optimistic to be trade offs in growth and profitability, and why their mission is so important.“Imagine someone judging you based on your driver's license photo, and only that. We're looking to help these people update that photo, we're looking to help them make their credit score look like who they are today and who they want to be tomorrow. And in that sense, unlocking their financial potential. - Jeff ZhouToday on Startups for Good we cover:Short term loansRealizing potentialCredit reporting servicesEmergency loansWhy are people still utilizing predatory loans?Learning about the needs of the customerCycle of borrowingShiny Object SyndromeConnect with Jeff on LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Born to immigrant parents in poverty, Jonathan and his family quickly learned the value and need for community (something he discovered later on was very hard to come by for folks on the street). Receiving an opportunity to study at the University of Michigan, Jonathan earned a degree in Informatics, specializing in UX design. After producing a documentary on social change ("Talim" on Amazon), Jonathan developed a tool for restaurants to convert surplus food into funding for local food banks called FoodCircles. From there he helped create Samaritan, with the goal to give people without a home the social and financial support needed to leave the street. Through all this, he wants people to meet Jesus and come to know His unconditional love for them.Jonathan joins me today to discuss the causes of homelessness, ways to address homelessness, how volunteers can help a person without a home, why they chose a for benefit corporation rather than nonprofit and what some of the challenges have been, as well has his advice at the end.“We just find that, if you have a social home, addressing that financial poverty becomes a lot easier and higher likelihood that the person is able to do that. And then the physical home can follow thereafter.” - Jonathan KumarToday on Startups for Good we cover:Why Jonathan is drawn to helping the homelessPaying generosity forwardCauses of homelessnessLeaning on people to help you through tough timesDoes mental illness and substance abuse play a role?How Samaritan worksRaising capital as a public benefit corporationConnect with Jonathan Twitter and LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Misha is the founder of Effective Government California. He believes government is a vitally important institution, and that our responsibility as citizens is to help improve it.Today Misha will make the case that startup skills are partially transferable into the political and policy domain and encourages you to consider it when it's the right time. And perhaps some issues will be better served, better impacted through advocacy, politics and policy than through startups.“Let's look at the landscape and understand whether there are existing organizations that we can just partner with, because there's great people there and great, they already have a cadence of performance and out driving outcomes, or whether there needs to be something new.” - Misha ChellamToday on Startups for Good we cover:Why should startups care about politicsChanging minds about money in politicsGoals for a new advocacy organizationChallenges when building a political startupConnect with Misha on Twitter and subscribe to their newsletterThe book that Misha referenced is: The Captured Economy by Steve Teles and Brink LindseySubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Millennial, Immigrant, Uber driver (36000 mi) turned Techstars fintech startup founder @Line Financial. Previously Product Leader @PayPal (75 consumer fintech patent publications). Dad, Husband, Brother, Proud son of parents who came from extreme poverty, worked hard to give us great education, tolerant values and culture. Akshay joins me today to discuss his company, the product and how it works. We talked about what motivates him and the growth of the company. We talked about how to include the voice of the customer inside the company and do that in a systematic way.“Look for problems or several other problems, right around you. If you go down the path of identifying problems, and trying to solve them, you will be on the right path.” - Akshay KrishnaiahToday on Startups for Good we cover:Lending in a alternate wayHow they have grown What he learned at PayPalIf the patent system promotes innovationHow to keep the team focusedConnect with Akshay Linkedin and TwitterSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

After working in private equity and investment banking, Jacob Sills's passion for criminal justice reform led him to start Uptrust, a communication and engagement platform focused on ending mass incarceration. To date, Uptrust has helped over 300,000 people across 22 states navigate the criminal justice system and avoid violations that could send them to jail or prison. Jacob received his B.A. from Cornell University and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.Jacob joins me today to discuss how he investigated the market at the beginning to learn how to be a bails bondsman. He actually went to see a bail be set and did the research to understand the market. We talk about finding a co-founder and early customer decisions he's made to protect the mission. We also discussed the importance of market sizing.“A lot of research has shown that, … If you punish them for five years, instead of two years, it doesn't actually negate it. It's not like a supply demand curve where if the price goes up, you know, demand goes down.” - Jacob SillsToday on Startups for Good we cover:How to change the criminal justice systemThe efficacy of deterrence on crimeReasons for people not showing up for their court dateSelling to the governmentHow does low churn and long sales cycle affect growthApproaching investorsConnect with Jacob at @jacobrsills on Twitter or on LinkedinSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Adena Hefets is the co-founder & CEO of Divvy Homes, a proptech company on a mission to make homeownership accessible to everyone. Today, Adena is one of the few female founders to reach double unicorn status and to be valued at approximately $2 billion.Adena set out to solve a problem she saw in the market: fewer people can afford to purchase a home today than two decades ago. To solve this, she came up with a new way to finance a home purchase through a rent-to-own model that allows renters to gradually build up ownership in their future homes.Prior to founding Divvy, Adena joined Square in 2013 and was responsible for building out Square Capital, a merchant cash advance platform with billions in loans outstanding. Prior to joining Square, she was part of the large-cap buyout team at TPG, a private equity firm, where she helped purchase companies in the real estate sector. She started her career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Adena holds a Bachelors of Science, Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and a Masters of Business Administration, Stanford Graduate School of Business. She was named 40 Under 40 by Fortune and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Capital, and Caffeinated Capital. She currently lives in Oakland, California. Adena joins me today and we discuss profitability, first growth trade off, co-founder relationships, the role of a CEO, getting and learning from mentors, along with a lot more.“I think the trade we make, and why that's acceptable to us as a business is we end up getting tenants who think act and feel like homeowners.” - Adena HefetsToday on Startups for Good we cover:The high expense of housingThinking about growthHow investor background helps fundraisingSelf awareness to keep up company growthFinding mentorsFinding the right co-founderWorking with a startup studioThe downside to CEO-nessConnect with Adena on Twitter @AdenaHefetsBooks mentioned on the show:Seven Powers by Hamilton HelmerThe Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben HorowitzSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Thomson Nguyen is the founder and CEO of Nearside, a financial services provider and neobanking platform built on the belief that starting a business should be easier. A data scientist turned entrepreneur, Thomson focuses on providing an estimated 60 million entrepreneurs, micro-SMBs, freelancers, gigsters, and unbanked individuals with fair financial products, including free small business checking accounts with no monthly, overdraft or ATM fees and cashback rewards. Thomson joins me today to talk about how he was a gig driver in order to learn about working as a gig worker, how he suggests getting started serving customers, and how he gives out his personal email address to all his customers.“I've always told our team to focus on what works for us and not over rotate on current trends or proselytizers, or what people are saying out on like social media” - Thomson NguyenToday on Startups for Good we cover:Handling your competitorsHow a data scientist background is helpful with fintechServing customers before you have a productPros & cons of remote workConnect with Thomson at Thomson@nearside.comSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Alex's entrepreneurial journey started long before he ever knew the concept of a business plan. In fact, he did not realize it at the time, but his earliest experiences in childhood gave him the background and understanding of a problem (and how to solve it) that would lead Alex down the entrepreneurial path. Alex has since served in leadership positions at numerous social enterprises and technology start-ups in D.C., London, and San Francisco.Alex is a proud product of Bellevue Public Schools in his native Washington state; he believes in the productive potential of design, compassion, and digital technology. He worked as a member of Barack Obama's field team in 2007 and 2008, managing hundreds of paid staff who organized thousands of volunteers for the then-Senator's successful presidential primary and general election campaigns. Alex then served as a Founding Regional Director of Obama for America – the political mobilization wing of the Democratic National Committee – until 2010.Alex got his start in real estate at real estate developer Forest City (now Brookfield Properties). He holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.Alex splits his time between his native Seattle and Landed's headquarters in San Francisco, and he and his husband spend their decompression time outdoors, on the dance floor, or playing the “funcles” (fun-uncles) role.We dive into topics such as what he's learned from politics and brought into startups, more about the details of the housing market and the details of their product, as well as how to welcome emotions into the workplace and use them for higher productivity.“I got really excited about the idea that the tools out there that people could use to better match their economic reality. And one of those tools is shared appreciation or shared ownership or co-ownership that allows you to spread out and share risk.” - Alex LoftonToday on Startups for Good we cover:High-cost of housingSuccess with investors Impact capital vs. charitable capitalRelationships with regulatorsDealing with fear in a startupConnect with Alex on landed.comSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Tony Huang is the Co-founder & CEO of Possible Finance, a consumer fintech company focused on improving the financial health of lower-income Americans. Since 2019, Possible has provided small dollar installment loans to over 500,000 Americans to help them cover emergency expenses and build credit history. Recently, Possible announced the Possible Card, an unsecured credit card without interest fees or late fees, just one flat monthly fee. They designed this product so that they never make money from customers being stuck in vicious debt cycles which is unfortunately all too common for subprime credit cardholders. Possible's lead investors are Union Square Ventures, Euclidean Capital (Jim Simons's family office), Canvas Ventures, and Unlock Ventures. Prior to founding Possible, Tony and his co-founders collectively spent 26 years building body cameras for cops. Possible is a fully distributed company with team members all across the globe, and Tony has spent the past 18 months as a digital nomad living in various cities across the country. Tony joins me today to discuss how within two weeks of announcing the new credit card product, they have over 175,000 people on the waitlist. We talk about trade offs between short term profits and long term mission, product design with mission in mind his personal journey and the consumer debt market in the US.“We wanted to create value for customers and for society overall.” - Tony HuangToday on Startups for Good we cover:Why payday loans cost so muchLending to lower income communitiesThe importance of better dataInternational micro lending vs. domestic payday loansThe debt cycleTrade offs in managing mission and the productDebt investor experienceConnect with Tony on LinkedIn or through the Possible Financial Website Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Jens is the founder of NewImpact, a humanity benefit nonprofit based in Seattle, WA. NewImpact is seeking to change the way the world finds opportunities and solves problems by pioneering the field of Tri-Sector Innovation. NewImpact inspires and enables innovators and organizations to design solutions and business models that repurpose and realign the best resources available within the private, social and public sectors. Jens first realized the potential for tri-sector innovation when he founded Coinstar in 1990. His goal was to create a company that could simultaneously benefit the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Today, Coinstar has processed trillions of coins and billions of dollars for millions of people, raising over $150M in donations to nonprofits and saving the government billions of dollars, all while providing a valued consumer service and increasing spendable cash power. After the success of Coinstar, Jens realized tri-sector business models could be applied to many types of organizations, with the potential to help transform society. Jens has been invited to present tri-sector methodologies at numerous keynotes, business school presentations and curriculum, before the United Nations, and at other gatherings, and he is always seeking opportunities to share his vision for a world where social and economic progress are available to all. We talked about the story of Coinstar and when the mission came into it, how he learned how to talk about it, the tri-sector model in more detail. I'm sure you're wondering about it, including some examples of it.“I would just encourage people who are starting companies or existing companies to really think about a tri-sector mindset out there, and I think they can grow their companies faster.” - Jens MolbakToday on Startups for Good we cover:When mission became a part of CoinstarAttracting investors when mission is part of the businessHow to continue to innovateTri-sector and how it differs from triple bottom lineHow to identify public sector resourcesChallenges to building software as a non-profitUniversal basic serviceConnect with Jens on LinkedIn or their websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Arna Ionescu Stoll has deep expertise developing complex, multi-touchpoint healthcare products that integrate seamlessly into people's lives. As the Chief Executive Officer at Wavely Diagnostics, she is guiding Wavely's technology through development and into viable commercial markets based on her decades of experience developing high impact, innovative healthcare products that solve real human needs. Arna has been a part of the digital health community since before the term “digital health” was coined, and she has served as executive, consultant, and senior advisor to various healthcare, digital health, and medical devices companies.Prior to her role at Wavely, she was the founder and principal at Triody, a boutique consulting firm focused exclusively on supporting early stage healthcare companies, the Vice President of User Experience & Design at Proteus Digital Health, a start-up creating digital medicines to support adherence and diagnostics that grew into a billion dollar company before her departure, and a Health Practice lead at IDEO, a global design and innovation consulting firm, where she built IDEO's first “Connected Health” business focused on supporting companies that used technology to facilitate healthcare delivery. Arna holds a B.S.E. in Computer Science and minor in Modern Dance from Princeton University, and an M.S. in Computer Science/Human Computer Interaction from Stanford University."A special episode as Arna and Miles went to elementary school together and Purpose Built is an investor in Wavely.We talked about how to bring a product to market and how to work with academic co founders, how mission driven messages resonate differently with employees and investors and how to build a parent friendly workplace and much, much more.“I think it's really important to find the right investors. I think having people who will support you in building a company, having people that you really enjoy speaking with is much more important than having a check.” - Arna Ionescu StollToday on Startups for Good we cover:Using a cell phone to diagnose an ear infectionBeing realistic about timelinesThe biggest surprise when a client becomes your employerHuman centered design How to seek non-dilutive fundingWorking with academic co-foundersCreating parent friendly work environmentsHow to attract investors and employees with a missionAdvice for female founders and CEOsConnect with Arna on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram or on their website.Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Sander Daniels is passionate about ensuring we have good jobs for people in the future as technology accelerates. He spends his time doing what he can to create, connect, and train people into new jobs.Sander is a founder of Thumbtack, the modern home management platform. Millions of households in the U.S. use the Thumbtack platform to manage their home, and Thumbtack helps hundreds of thousands of local service professionals across 500 occupations grow sustainably. Sander has also recently founded Scaled, a recruiting startup focused initially on connecting great People, Legal, and Finance talent to top startups, and GroomBuggy, a mobile dog grooming business in the San Francisco Bay Area.“There's a huge opportunity for tech to get back to the ground roots to connect itself much more with Washington DC, with politics with local communities, and figure out how tech can really connect itself much more to the American national interest to creating jobs in the United States to rebuilding local communities across the country.” - Sander DanielsToday on Startups for Good we cover:Which makes a bigger impact, policy or tech startup?Criteria for startup ideasChanging the Silicon Valley mindsetHow to pick the right executive coachCreating a globally diverse teamKnowing when it is time to quit your jobHow parents influence a career pathConnect with Sander on Substack, LinkedIn and Twitter Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Jimmy Chen is the Founder and CEO of Propel, creators of the Providers app, which is used by over 5 million Americans to manage their SNAP benefits and banking. Propel was founded through a fellowship at the Robin Hood Foundation, and has raised over $80m in venture capital funding from investors including the Financial Health Network, Andreessen Horowitz, Kevin Durant, and Serena Williams. In addition to his work at Propel, Jimmy is Vice Chair of Technology at the eGovernment Payments Council, an industry task force around the future of government payments, he was an advisor to President Biden's Tech Transition Committee, and he has testified in front of Congress on the topic of modernizing America's safety net. Prior to Propel, Jimmy led product teams at LinkedIn and Facebook and studied Symbolic Systems at Stanford University. “Start from a clear consumer pain point, start from talking to people who are navigating those challenges in their day to day lives, gain as much empathy as you can for their experiences.” - Jimmy ChenToday on Startups for Good we cover:Market opportunity to serve low income peopleMeasuring your positive impact What makes a product respectfulHow a feature can evolve into a businessRevenue through advertisingChoosing advertisers that are aligned with company valuesManaging fifty different state government regulationsDealing with competitionWillingness to have frank conversations Connect with Jimmy on Twitter or find out more from the Propel websiteThe Paul Graham article that was mentionedSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Chukwudi N. Kanu is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur and investor, laser-focused on leveraging technology to solve today's systemic problems while creating a more equitable & inclusive future. He is the Cofounder & CEO of Humblebrag, a tool for investors to find overlooked pre-seed founders in emerging tech hubs while giving scouts interest on the investment. In addition to that, Chukwudi is the Managing Director of Binghamton Alumni Angels, the Binghamton University alumni investment network. He is also an active angel investor that has co-invested with notable investors Bill Trenchard, Naval Ravikant, Arlan Hamilton, and Marc Randolph.He's been recognized by LinkedIn, Indeed.com, the United Nations Development Programme, Ernst & Young, Notley, the United States Senate, and Venture For America for his leadership and new ideas.HumbleBrag is in an earlier stage than other companies we normally feature although it is part of our mini-series on alternative funding models with OnDeck, Wefunder, Pando and Exit to Community.“Learn how to tell your story, and tell it succinctly. Definitely know what your story is, tell it and be confident when you tell it like that's the biggest thing before you open your mouth.” - Chukwudi N. KanuToday on Startups for Good we cover:Deciding on entrepreneurshipChanneling confidenceBecoming a scoutRegulatory constraintsTips for raising moneyLocations for future innovationConnect with Chukwudi on LinkedIN or TwitterThe book discussed in this episode is The Innovation Blindspot by Ross BairdSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Jonny leads the fundraising team at Wefunder, a platform that lets startup founders raise capital from their customers and community, as well as rich people. Before joining Wefunder, Jonny founded the U.S. team at the non-profit Kiva.org. He is from the UK where he studied history at the University of Cambridge, and is the proud dad of Felicity, Carlyle and Margot.I've invested with the Wefunder platform in one of the companies that was raising money, and I'm also an investor and a competitor. So I know a little bit about this space, but I learned more in this episode. We went deep on how crowdfunding Reg CF offerings work. We also learned about the scale that Wefunder has already achieved with 40% market share, over $450 million dollars raised on the platform, 1800+ founders, 26,000+ jobs created and on a mission to democratize investing in startups and small business.“Wouldn't it be cool if the wealth that's created by the next Uber or the next Airbnb be shared among middle class Americans, as opposed to being concentrated in the hands of the investors?” -Jonny PriceToday on Startups for Good we cover:Community RoundMarketing vs. building customer relationshipsTransparent reporting and auditingRegulation A crowdfunding vs. Regulation A offeringsHow to select the right crowdfunding platformIndustry specializationMeasuring mission impactPartnership with Micro acquireReferences from the show:Josh Clemente, Founder of Levels episode of Startups for GoodZero to One by Peter Thiel and Peter Thiel's TedTalkUncharitable by Dan Pollotta The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen CoveyConnect with Jonny on LinkedIn and Twitter or follow Wefunder on YouTubeSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or

Shalen is a recovering banker who worked at Deloitte, BNP and SMBC, primarily in M&A and Leveraged Finance. During this time, he co-founded Global Clinic as a volunteer to deliver free cataract and cleft surgeries and primary eye and dental care around remote parts of Asia, which led him to quit banking and dedicate his career to healthcare. Shalen holds math, finance, and public health degrees from LSE, Cambridge, and Harvard.Before his master's degree at Harvard, Jake worked as a consultant in healthcare strategy and technology. He focused on innovative care delivery models and early value-based care initiatives for providers, payers, and state agencies. He is passionate about building teams and tech that enable thoughtful remote care models for vulnerable populations.We discussed the transition from the corporate world to being a founder, bringing your authentic self to work, starting a family while being a founder and building a health tech company.“I think that relationship is really important. So somewhere along the way, you have to turn the dial from extrinsic and intrinsic to make them really start to believe in themselves. And I think that's what we're trying to accomplish here.” - Jake KeteyianToday on Startups for Good we cover:Extrinsic motivation vs. intrinsic motivationMaking decisions in an nonhierarchical environmentDeciding on a particular population to work withCreating a cohesive vision with many service offeringsKeeping with company missions while remoteSmoking cessation ratesConnect with Shane and Jake through LinkedIn, Facebook or Vincere's website Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Ali Tamaseb is a partner at DCVC, a Silicon Valley VC fund with over $2 billion under management. The investments Tamaseb led on behalf of DCVC has generated an enterprise value of over $6 billion and the companies he sits on as a board director employ over 3,000 people.Tamaseb studied Electrical Engineering at University of Tehran, Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London, and general management at Stanford Graduate School of Business and he was an honoree of the British Alumni Award of 2018 by the British Council, and was the recipient of Imperial College President's Medal for Outstanding Achievement.Tamaseb has 7 publications, including two books and five academic papers, holds several patents, and has won medals in national and international Physics and Computing Olympiads. Ali's latest book “Super Founders: What Data Reveals about Billion-Dollar Startups” became the #1 bestselling Venture Capital and Startup book, is published in over 50 countries and is being translated into over 10 languages. Ali and his work have been featured in the WSJ, BBC, Fortune, Guardian, The Telegraph, and Forbes among others and he has given keynote talks at major events and conferences.We have a fascinating conversation, which I think will blow up some of your myths you might have about what it takes to be a super founder. We discussed the number of co-founders, the founder staying CEO, whether first mover is an advantage, what happens when you have competition, the importance of timing, and we talk about how success is so rarely overnight. He also suggests areas that he thinks founders should be building in for the future.“I recommend [when you raise a lot of money] to entrepreneurs, it takes a very, very good discipline of you don't necessarily have to spend the money that you raise. But if you have the discipline of being lean, and only spending that money, there's product market fit” - Ali TamasebToday on Startups for Good we cover:Misconceptions of the qualities of a founderThe value of a co-founderSurvivorship biasMyths and stereotypes of being an investorThe correlation between the amount of money raised and successCompetition can show that there is a marketConnect with Ali on LinkedIn and TwitterAli's book Super Founders can be purchased where all books are soldOther references from the show:Miles' blogpost on Survivorship biasSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose...

Dr. Jasmin Hume is the Founder and CEO of Shiru, a biotechnology company addressing a critical need in the food industry by providing access to more sustainable and healthy ingredients. Jasmin is an expert in proteins, leveraging deep biochemistry, materials science, and food science knowledge to bring transformative, sustainable foods from concept to reality. In addition to her work as CEO and Founder of Shiru, she is a 2019 graduate of Y Combinator, former Director of Food Chemistry at JUST, and a former summer associate for VC firm Lux Capital. Jasmin holds a doctorate in protein engineering from NYU, an MSc from Chalmers University, and a BEng from McGill University. Jasmin joins me today to talk about being a solo founder. We also address how time inside a VC firm can teach you about being a founder and what it's like to fundraise while you're eight months pregnant.“I think that one of the things that I talked about is balanced between ambition, visionary, big picture, and, also recognizing, what tools are in your toolbox today and what you can do.” - Jasmin HumeToday on Startups for Good we cover:Environmental SustainabilityEncouraging people to be plant basedFundraising adviceBuilding a team and making decisions as a sole founderSelecting and engaging with mentorsLearn more about Shiru on their website or connect with them on Twitter and LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Will Sealy is the co-founder and CEO of Summer, a B Corp that's helping student loan borrowers navigate the repayment process to maximize their savings. Prior to Summer, Will worked at SoFi on business strategy and operations, and, prior to that, served as one of the first student loan policy experts at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Will was a special assistant and policy advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren at both the CFPB and the U.S. Department of Treasury. In 2010, Will worked on the White House team tasked with implementing the Dodd-Frank Act. Will earned his MBA from the Yale School of Management and his BA from the College of William & Mary.On the episode we discussed his journey through the government to startup founder, how a friend inspired him to start his first organization, which decisions to make quickly and which to take your time on and managing multiple consumer channels. (On choosing your co-founder) “This is a person who is going to be so with you through the the high highs and low lows, that it's not just about their accomplishments, it's really about their character” - Will SealyToday on Startups for Good we cover:Common misunderstandings about student loansPotential solutions for overwhelmed studentsCommon reasons people can't pay back student loansWays to improve the student loan systemGetting the most out of business schoolConnect with Will and learn more about Summer on their website Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about Purpose Built visit our website.

Muriel Clauson is the co-founder of Anthill, HR solutions for employees who don't sit at a desk or computer. Anthill is focused on helping workers in manufacturing and supply chain roles have the same support in their careers as their desked peers. Muriel has been an active researcher and advisor on the future of work and artificial intelligence. She has authored scientific publications, was a scientific advisor for several governments and organizations around the world, and is an advisory board member for Humans for AI. Previously, Muriel advised former ambassadors, prime ministers, and presidents across four continents on their future of work policy through her work with the InterAction Council. She has appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Conscious Company, and Forbes and is a speaker with emerging technology think-tank Singularity University. She speaks on technological change and the future of work globally with organizations including the World Bank, China's SAI Task Force for Innovation, the Milken Institute, United States Embassies, the Aspen Institute, the Young Presidents Organization, Palo Alto Networks, Silicon Valley Bank and more. Muriel is a doctoral candidate in industrial-organizational psychology at the University of Georgia and conducted research at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.Muriel joins me today to discuss more about their fundraising. They have done over 4 million between pre seed and seed and have an employee count of 31, with 10 full time. We discuss the journey from academic researcher to founder and CEO. What you have to unlearn and what you have to learn. We talk more about the makeup of the workforce these days? And how deskless workers fit in? How they get less attention, perhaps in the public conversation, and in terms of tools that are being built for HR, what the pandemic has meant for her company and for these workers. And we talk about a great offer from her for startup founders.“I am grateful for this startup experience, and how much it's taught us, just like what actually matters, and getting down to brass tacks and speaking in a language that people understand and can get behind” - Muriel ClausonToday on Startups for Good we cover:Desk-less EmployeesUtilizing SMS for employee communicationCareer developmentChanges in the employment landscapeThe Great ResignationConnect with Muriel at muriel@anthill.co or at Anthill's website. Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Arjan is a trusted and experienced venture investor and founder of Core Innovation Capital, a leading venture capital fund investing in financial services companies that democratize prosperity. He is a passionate advocate for market-based financial access and empowerment.His investments include Ripple, NerdWallet, Bestow, and Oportun. He is a Senior Advisor to the Financial Health Network (formerly CFSI), the nation's leading authority on financial health, which he helped start in 2004. He has served on the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board and currently serves on the Fed's Consumer Advisory Counsel.Several of Arjan's investments have been acquired or gone public, including TIO Networks (by PayPal), Fundera (by Nerdwallet), Coverhound (Brown & Brown), Oportun (Nasdaq:OPRT), Honest Dollar (by Goldman Sachs), L2C (by TransUnion), AccountNow (by Green Dot), CircleLending (by Virgin Group), and RentBureau (by Experian).Arjan writes regularly, and has been noted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Economist, and in the documentary, Spent. He speaks regularly including at the White House, SXSW, Stanford, Harvard, and MIT.On a local level he serves on the Compton Community Development Corporation Board. Prior, he spent a decade as an operator in several venture backed startups as a technology leader, product- and general manager including Pierian Spring Software, Cognitive Concepts (acquired by Houghton Mifflin), Capella Learning (now NASDAQ: CPLA), and DoTheGood.Arjan joins me today to discuss mainly about a piece he wrote for Medium called How missionary are you actually?, which I think has so many insights per sentence. It is mind blowing, how dense and how much information is in the short piece. I thought it was worth a deep dive on the podcast, especially for founders thinking about how to hold themselves accountable to the mission. How to make sure it lives on past your initial excitement. And those moments when you say, Let's go climb that mountain..“We believe in Occam's razor, so pick the simpler versus the more complex solution, when there's a choice. We believe in creative destruction. And so rather than perfect academic rigor, we're fine to always be tinkering and improving it. Then we put together a small group of folks whose job it is to call our bluff, to hold our feet to the fire to insist on intellectual honesty.” - Arjan SchütteToday on Startups for Good we cover:Misguided perseveranceImpact externalities reportWhy mission driven startups are intent on financial healthThe importance of writing down the company's mission Calculating correlations between social impact and enterprise valueDifferent ways to levy feesUnderstanding your customer betterSharing positive externalities with steak holdersTaking The Founder's PledgeArjan's article in MediumConnect with Arjan through his email at a@corevc.com or at Core's websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect

David Helene is the founder and CEO of Edquity (www.edquity.co), a provider of equitable and effective cash transfer administration technology for institutional and government partners. Under his leadership, Edquity has worked with over 30 innovative partners in postsecondary education to process over $85 million in emergency grants to over 90,000 students, 40% of whom have been student parents, as well municipalities that include the City of Baltimore. He has helped the organization attract over $8 million in support from some of the most innovation national postsecondary funding partners in the country, including ECMC Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, Strada Education Network, Imaginable Futures, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, Spring Point Partners, WGU Labs, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others. For his work at Edquity, David was named to 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Social Entrepreneurship.Prior to Edquity, David founded a non-profit college access organization called UniFi Scholars, where he worked with over 400 students around college financial planning, and spent nearly three years at The Clearing House, a financial trade association and payments company representing the interests of the nation's largest commercial banks. David joins me today to discuss changing demographics in students, the importance and purpose of higher ed, why college costs keep rising, taking policy risks as a startup, launching a second product and the role of business in politics. “About 75% of students are going to community colleges or open enrollment for your institutions. And that's really where we should be focusing our time and attention, because those are the institutions that are educating the vast majority of the next generation of our workforce.” - David HeleneToday on Startups for Good we cover:Fighting structural inequalityRising college costsBalancing two customer basesPolicy risk and evaluationShould companies take political positions?Learn more about Edquity on their website and with David at david@edquity.coSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Ronnie Kwesi Coleman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Meaningful Gigs, a tech-enabled marketplace connecting skilled African designers with companies seeking high quality digital design. After dropping out of college at 20 to support his family in Ghana, Ronnie got a job at a tech startup in Washington, DC. Soon after, he helped launch the VC-backed startup StayNTouch, which grew to 100+ employees and was eventually acquired for $40M. Since co-founding Meaningful Gigs in 2019 Ronnie has led the company's financial efforts, raising over $1M in seed funding and creating jobs for and upskilling more than 300 African designers. A longtime advocate for Africa, Ronnie's own Ghanaian heritage inspired him to focus specifically on global equity. With a mission to help people reach their full potential, Meaningful Gigs is impacting people in Africa in real, tangible ways. In just under two years, the company has already placed designers in roles with Starbucks, Bloomberg, Facebook, and IDEO, and has a vision to create 100,000 skilled jobs in Africa by 2028.Ronnie is also a Co-Founder of the Black Exchange, an organization that helps black entrepreneurs connect with black investors. Ronnie lives in Washington, DC, where he oversees Meaningful Gigs' world-class team. In his spare time, he can be found playing chess—he's a nationally-ranked expert!—or playing basketball with friends.On today's episode I speak with Ronnie about his company which has about 12 full time people and has grown it's revenue four to five times in 2021. They are also out now to raise a Series A. We discussed finding investors, finding co-founders and how you match your values, the values of the company and how that really comes together. We talk about finding investors when you don't have a network, how to prioritize which investors you want to work with. And we also end up with his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.“How you do anything, is how you do everything. So pretty much if you can find a business or do whatever you need to do that harmonizes with your life, and it's not completely separate, it's not something new. Then try to do that.” - Ronnie Kwesi ColemanToday on Startups for Good we cover:How chess is like building a startupProbabilistic thinkingFactors making someone reach their full potentialAddressing differences across national culturesOperating virtually The work force in AfricaResolving conflicts amongst foundersThe importance of mission when bringing in investorsConnect with Ronnie on LinkedIn or through the company's websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Alex Mooradian, founder and CEO of Resolve, is a private equity investor turned entrepreneur. He is the Founder and CEO of Resolve, a company which combines caring human experts with powerful technology to provide people with affordable and transparent debt relief solutions. Prior to founding Resolve, Alex was Entrepreneur In Residence at Expa and the founder of Readyforce, a company that helps people find jobs and get to work. He was also a Principal at Eos Partners, a growth equity investment fund in New York, and an Associate at First Atlantic Capital and Fremont Partners. Alex began his career as an Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisition Group at Merrill Lynch. A frequent public speaker and panelist on financial technology for good, Alex has spoken at Financial Health Network's Annual EMERGE Forum, Hope Global Forum, and CB Insights' Future of Fintech, among others.He is a graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia Business School, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and children."I was so excited about the story when I met Alex that I made an investment. Now, he has progressed quite a bit, and I'm excited to share the story with you. Just before having this conversation he closed another $5 million round. He tells a story of his intense pivot. He had 25 employees and was going in one direction, realized he had to change directions, given the market circumstances and he brought the team down to five people and then back up to eight. They've got eight open positions now and expect to continue to grow. It's a wonderful story of a turnaround in the middle of a startup. We also discuss direct and honest conversations. How this funding environment is actually working for entrepreneurs measuring progress along a mission. When do you persevere or pivot?“If you no longer are excited to solve that problem, even if it's a big problem, if you're not excited to solve it anymore, personally, it's probably time to move on as well. You know, this job is so much fun, I love doing what I do, I would not want to do anything else with my life” - Alex MooradianToday on Startups for Good we cover:Helping people in financial crisisProduct evolutionDeciding to change course and the emotional tollCommunicating to investors who are mission oriented and those that are profit-maximazing Building diversity on the teamMeasuring progress with metrics other than financesConnect with Alex by email alex@helloresolve.com and learn more about the company at Resolve's websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Damola Ogundipe is the CEO of Civic Eagle, a public policy data and software company helping build a limitless world with intelligent and useful public policy data. Damola was born in Nigeria and grew up in Minnesota where he attended the University of Minnesota and later on founded Civic Eagle. I've been an investor in the company since 2018, they've been a remote only company, which we talked about in the episode. They've grown by three times in the last year, raised over $3 million and grown to 22 people in the company. We also discuss what makes a great founder, how to make decisions including a pivot, what building a remote only company is like and how to do it. So you're reaching for greatness, starting Employee Resource Groups early on, and how investors say no, and how they should keep the door open if they want to, and much more. “I think being a really good leader, being a strong leader, inspiring the people that are getting behind you, and I'm really actually holding your hand through this journey is by far the most important thing”. - Damola OgundipeToday on Startups for Good we cover:Early signs of entrepreneurshipKnowing when to pivot the model of the companyMatching your customers to your product or serviceCreating a remote cultureHiring and firing best practicesSaying no to investorsConnect with Damola on Twitter or email him at Damola@civiceagle.comMiles mentioned the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick LencioniSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Matt Spettel is the co-founder and CEO of CoPilot, a Pittsburgh-based remote personal training startup. With an engineering background from Carnegie Mellon University, Matt specializes in designing and building innovation consumer products and experienced. Since its founding in 2019, CoPilot has raised $10M, grown to 50 full-time employees, and impacted thousands of lives across the globe. Matt joins me today to discuss his company CoPilot. I am a happy user and an investor. During this episode, we cover the evolution of the company vision, how to learn about new disciplines as a founder. Matt shares how he always wanted to build robots and how he ended up working on copilot building a team from five to over 50 In one year, and how to successfully fundraise.“If you can't make it happen with two overworked, overtired people sitting in a garage with a dream, then you're probably not going to be able to make it happen with $3,000,000 and two people sitting in a garage overworked with a dream. I'd say there's very, very specific cases where capital is truly the limiting factor to move to the next step.” - Matt SpettelToday on Startups for Good we cover:Realizing the larger missionCombining tech tools and human coachingConstantly iteratingChoosing your ideal customerLearning the marketing spaceBuilding a team with rapid growthTips on fundraisingConnect with Matt on LinkedIn and right now CoPilot is offering a free 14 day trial (no credit card needed) at mycopilot.com to try the service out for yourself.Miles mentioned the book: Lean Startup by Eric RiesSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Paul is an economist and entrepreneur working to accelerate the end of extreme poverty. He is an associate professor of economics at UC San Diego. His research examines the design, implementation, and impact of anti-poverty programs at large scales.He is co-founder, former president, and current director at GiveDirectly, the leading international NGO specialized in digital cash transfers and consistently rated one of the most impactful ways to give. He subsequently co-founded and served as a director of the enterprise payments company Segovia (acquired) and the digital remittance company Taptap Send.Paul is a recipient of a Sloan Fellowship and has been named a “Top 100 Global Thinker” by Foreign Policy magazine. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University.Paul joins me and we talked about the opportunity to do so much good for just a little bit of money, how people living in extreme poverty choose to use their cash. We talk about the differences between for profit and nonprofit startups. We talk about the advantages to not being 100% committed into one thing, particularly when it's new or experimental, and he gives advice on a number of other issues.“The point though, I think still holds that you'd like for there to be some of that accountability to the people that we're trying to help. And not only to the people that are putting the money upfront, on the donor side.” Paul NiehausToday on Startups for Good we cover:Returns to quality in nonprofit vs. for profitEarn to giveMobile money providersSetting up teamsBalancing family, startups & academicsUniversal basic income experimentConnect with Paul on Twitter Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Charlie Olson is the co-founder and CEO of Pando. Pando was founded after Charlie and his co-founder, Eric Lax, graduated from Stanford's Graduate School of Business in 2017. Since inception Pando has signed hundreds of professional athletes and entrepreneurs into income pools and has raised a Series A from top fintech investors. Prior to his time at Stanford, Charlie worked with Bob Grady at Cheyenne Capital, a private equity firm based out of Jackson, WY. Concurrently, Charlie worked in search fund investing for Professor David Dodson and was a speechwriter and policy analyst for two governors. Charlie also holds two other degrees from Stanford, including a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in US History. Charlie was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30.Charlie joins me today to discuss his income pooling company, Pando. He explains the concept and shares with us the higher than average results that the company has provided. He shares the type of client that Pando seeks. Charlie also vulnerably shares some of his early challenges as a founder. “When you're trying to overcome a challenge, a CEOs job is to be somewhat of the ballast and not allow the team to get too high or allow the team to get too low.” - Charlie OlsonToday on Startups for Good we cover:Risk ToleranceChallenging limiting beliefs about success ratesConsumer protectionsBuilding new marketsLoss aversionConflict resolution between co-foundersConnect with Charlie on Twitter and Pando at pandopooling.comThe book that Miles mentioned is Lifecycle Investing by Ian Ayres & Barry J. NalebuffSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Jeff is a serial entrepreneur who brings a wealth of experience in the climate tech industry and has served in multiple executive roles in clean energy, waste repurposing, and venture capital. He also serves as an advisory board member to a Bay Area biotech company. Jeff completed his master's thesis on economics in PHA production, and is the co-inventor of Full Cycle technology. His zeal for tackling plastic pollution and food waste makes him a force for change.Jeff joins me today to discuss how he got into plastics and what drew him to applications for improving the environment. He shares with us how inspirational his parents were and how his desire to build things moved him to be a founder. Jeff talks about his fundraising efforts and the growth of his company. We are grateful to Jeff for also sharing with us some hardships and how the company tackled them.“It depends on what you're good at. My magic is finding opportunity. And again, the reason we got here was finding out what people value and giving it to them, and finding creative ways to do that.” - Jeff AndersonToday on Startups for Good we cover:Science risk vs. tech riskCompelling investors on the projectMaintaining the ownership of the intellectual propertyInvestors as plant-building partnersSymbiotic relationshipsEnd user cost trends for bioplasticsManaging a team with rapid growthCo-CEO/founding with a twinBalancing time between tasksRelying on your executive teamConnect with Full Cycle on their website and TwitterSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

David is the CEO of On Deck, a network of communities dedicated to unlocking human potential — helping founders start up and raise early capital, top talent connect with opportunities and explore "what's next" in their careers. David joins me today to discuss the Silicon Valley ecosystem and what is stands for. We discuss if a founder needs to have experienced the problem being solved as a requirement to start the company. David shares with us how he met his co-founder in On Deck. He talks about why we want more founders in the world. . I ask David how he imparts the Silicon Valley culture without bringing in the less desirable aspects. He also talks about OnDeck's newest initiative ODX.On picking a co-founder: “I encourage people to do is go out there and maybe find four or five different people to go on a series of “dates”, maybe take on a project, do some consulting, work together, perhaps don't work on the the one thing that you want to get ultimately solve, because you want to build trust.” - David BoothToday on Startups for Good we cover:Knowing if you are ready to start a companyThe necessary depth of familiarity in your co-founderLaunching a new programManaging team growth in a remote worldManaging change internallyFundraisingConnect with David on Twitter or the On Deck websiteThe Evolve Podcast that Miles mentioned is available hereSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

At the age of 15 Jason Wang was given a 12-year sentence at a maximum security prison in Texas. Upon release he earned two master's degrees and was still unable to find a job due to his criminal history. Jason decided to become an agent for change. He started FreeWorld. FreeWorld empowers people who have been in prison with educational support and technical skills to enter into high wage, high demand careers so they can live fulfilling lives, prison-free. Freeworld aims to break the cycle of recidivism and generational poverty by demonstrating the potential of reentering citizens creating meaningful career pathways and providing critical support services for the individuals and their families to overcome significant barriers.Jason joins me today to discuss his non-profit and the life path that brought him to start it. He shares with us the three benefits to society of former inmates finding jobs and not only the economic motivations but other social benefits. Jason tells us about the lessons that he has learned on his way to becoming a founder and CEO of a non-profit. Though Jason shares some roadblocks and obstacles he is optimistic of the change that can be made by moving obstacles and giving these former inmates a chance to provide for their families and change their lives.“If former prisoners get jobs, what that ends up meaning is that we have safer communities, we are saving taxpayers a lot of money on re-incarnation costs. And we're also helping a population that normally is excluded from the economy actually participate into the economy by paying taxes.” - Jason WangToday on Startups for Good we cover:The role of personal responsibility of inmatesSome of the causes of recidivism Technical parole violationsRadical transparencyBuilding trust in othersThe role identity plays on leading othersThe opportunities within trucking companiesReal problems in the real worldLegitimate first chancesResources from this episode:The Sounds Good podcast featuring Jason WangConnect with Jason at joinfreeworld.comThe Great CEO Within by Matt Mocharyventurepatterns.comSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Amanda DoAmaral is an educator, activist, and co-founder of Fiveable - a social learning network for students. She spent a half a decade teaching high school history in Oakland, CA, where her passion for creating equitable educational opportunities was ignited. Amanda has been a vocal advocate for inclusive history curriculum and is active within the Milwaukee tech community.Amanda joins me today to discuss how teaching differs from being a tech startup CEO. She shares what skills she pulled from teaching to help her excel in the tech ed space. Amanda also tells her founder's story. Even as a young company, Fiveable has already acquired another company and Amanda takes us through that process and what made that company desirable. “I hope that this is a moment where people shoot for the moon, rebuild, start, try something new, it doesn't have to be the way that it used to be.” - Amanda DoAmaralToday on Startups for Good we cover:Important learnings from an acceleratorWhen to bring on the engineering teamThings to remember when hiring for equity rather than salaryBringing in a co-founderCriteria when choosing headquarter locationThe value of student employees at FiveablePremium pricing vs. free contentHow to deal with a seasonal businessConsidering non-profit vs. for profitConnect with Amanda on Twitter or at fiveable.meSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Andrew Yang is an American businessman, lawyer, book author and philanthropist, as well as a former 2020 Democratic US presidential and New York City mayoral candidate. He is the founder of Venture for America which connects young professionals to innovative companies in economically challenged cities. As the first repeat guest on Startups for Good, Andrew joins me to discuss his new book Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy and his new political party Forward.We discuss how starting a startup is similar to starting a political campaign. He also shares his insights on why he felt compelled to start a new party and why he believes in a multi-party political climate. We also discuss the role of a startup founder in mitigating societies issues. And we discuss the best way for the government to support small businesses. “We built a very, very fragile, corruptible system that also will not deliver results for the American people. It's like if you looked at it as a startup operator, you'd be like, wow, this stuff's really broken.” - Andrew YangToday on Startups for Good we cover:Long form discussions like podcasts vs. short form like social mediaPolitical monopolies Rank voting - histories and outcomesDigital Social CreditsThe benefits of charter citiesSkinny CarsResources discussed in the episode:Forward by Andrew YangForward Podcast hosted by Andrew YangWhy We're Polarized by Ezra KleinConnect with Andrew at forwardparty.comSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Paul Gross is the co-founder and CEO at Remora. While at Yale, he conducted experimental research that uncovered solutions to collective action problems like political polarization and the climate crisis. Remora got started when he read a dissertation on mobile carbon capture written by his co-founder, Christina, and convinced her to quit her job as a scientist at the EPA. Then, he recruited his co-founder, Eric, a mechanic-turned-engineer who built hydrogen and electric semi-trucks for some of the world's largest automotive companies.Paul joins me today to discuss how he convinced his co-founder to quit her government job to join a two person startup. We also talk about the various reasons that the environmental industry is seeing growth as of late. Paul shares his opinion on the future of carbon capture devices regarding size and standards.“I don't think everyone needs to do that science, because I've already come across so many scientists who are blocked at that point of having an idea, but not being able to start a company around it.” - Paul GrossToday on Startups for Good we cover:Developing judgement for good science when reading thesesCreating a systematic approach when seeking new idea Carbon capture vs. catalytic converterFinding first adopters of the technologyWhen investors share your missionHow to build culture within an organizationTheir first round capital raise with investors like Lower Carbon Capital and Union Square VenturesWorking with major fleet companies like RyderBooks and podcasts discussed in this episode: Startup SchoolConnect with Paul at Remora Carbon, on Twitter or send him an email at hello@remoracarbon.comSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Ethan Davidoff founded Atlas in 2017 and serves as CEO. Prior to Atlas, Ethan was a founding member of RiskIQ, where he took on a variety of individual contributor and management responsibilities resulting in exponential revenue growth and ultimately an acquisition by Microsoft. Prior to RiskIQ, Ethan owned and operated a software development firm that built smartphone applications for fortune 500 brands. Ethan earned his business degree from UC Berkeley and attended the London School of Economics. Ethan joins me today to discuss how his company helps patients pay for their healthcare. He shares his personal story that brought him to his company's mission. He explains how they found initial customers and how to convince them to work with a startup. “Making sure we continue to hire the right people into the right roles, setting the right structure, giving everybody an amazing career path. Making sure we're generous and thoughtful with compensation structures. Making sure we're thoughtful human beings, and we're good to each other and that we don't we find the balance of the intensity and the passion and the killer instinct and the end the long hours of work with, being there to support each other's families, and time off, and mental health and balance.” - Ethan DavidoffToday on Startups for Good we cover:Medical financial aidSelecting the right co-founderChanging leadership while keeping the company strongChallenges to fast growthCOVID's impact on the companyThe role of a startup founderHow concept market fit differs from product market fitEthically promoting the companyNurturing the relationship with the early adoptersThe book that Ethan mentioned was: The New Great DepressionConnect with Ethan through LinkedInSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle

Tinsley Galyean is a Co-founder and Executive Director of Curious Learning. Curious Learning with partners has curated thousands of free and open source interactive literacy learning experiences reaching over 3.5 million users. Tinsley holds a PhD from the MIT Media Lab and a ScM in computer graphics from Brown University. He has developed interactive technology driven projects for museums around the world. He's also developed media experiences through Disney, Warner Brothers, and an Emmy-nominated program for Discovery Kids.Tinsley joins me today to share how he came to literacy and its impact on the world. We discuss how people learn and why some of them struggle to learn how to read. He tells us the importance of curiosity in learning. We discuss how to approach building a team in dealing with being a non-profit and a tech company. We get into the difference between the academic research orientation and the tech startup AB testing orientation.As Chair of the Board of Curious Learning, I'm excited to share this story with you..“You earn 40% more over the course of your lifetime you live 26 years longer if you're literate, there's direct impacts on your health, your ability to access resources of understand how to take care of yourself and your health, how subject you are to being radicalized and its impact on world peace or or human trafficking or child labor.” - Tinsley GalyeanToday on Startups for Good we cover:Can reading be taught on a smartphone?Learning from past tech “failures” and incorporating them into the softwareLimiting beliefs and its effect on the organizationHow funding is different as a non-profitHow to reach more peopleProtecting the learner's privacyConnect with Tinsley by email or on the Curious Learning websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Startups For Good with your host, Miles Lasater. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast listening app.Don't forget to visit our website, connect with Miles on Twitter or LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media. For more information about The Giving Circle