Podcasts about abillion

Vikas is the Founder & CEO of Abillion. Abillion is a social media platform focused on helping people create better daily habits and rituals, starting with what they eat and buy. Abillion's mission is to become the definitive global ecosystem for everything sustainable. In this episode, you will hear about:

Impact at Scale had the opportunity to meet and discuss all things food with Vikas Garg, founder of abillion. abillion serves as a social media platform, consumer review platform, and marketplace focused on sustainability. Vikas discusses the platform's mission to inspire a billion people to make sustainable choices. The platform focuses on food, injecting purpose and values into consumer choices. Vikas explains that the inspiration behind abillion stemmed from his observation of the misinformation and data misuse on social media platforms, leading him to create a platform where every action creates a positive impact. He highlights the platform's community-driven approach and efforts to ensure accurate and reliable information. Garg emphasizes the importance of sustainability in food choices, noting meat production's inefficiencies and environmental impact. Some of the topics that Vikas covered Being Mission Driven Sustainability in Food Choices Power of Community and User-Generated Content Educating Users on Impactful Choices Other Titles We Considered Inspire a billion for the planet Help people make responsible decisions I'm a big believer in movements Red meat is a type one carcinogen right up there with tobacco

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY mentioned in the introduction for today's episode… Hogs & Kisses Farm Sanctuary has partnered with abillion. We want to create some fun around its usage. After you sign up using our code, go to Hogs & Kisses social media (FB/IG) reel or story to comment with your handle and tag a friend. You will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card to your favorite vegan restaurant or vegan product company. Just download the app using our code - HOGSKISSES to sign up OR Go to use the direct link to download the app at  https://i.abillion.com/hogsandkisses!---------------------------------------I became obsessed with this question… Is it possible to design algorithms to actually spread social impact and sustainability, and social good and benefit, instead of spreading fear and violence and all the stuff that we react to? Can we build something much more positive than that?   - Vikas GargI'm especially excited to share this episode, featuring Vikas Garg, the CEO and founder of abillion, a social commerce app focused on helping people live more sustainably, for so many reasons.As we explore Vikas's intriguing life story, from starting life in India before migrating with his family to New York, to growing up in the New York club scene, to a wildly successful career on Wall Street, to moving to Singapore and changing gears completely after going vegan and creating an app that has resulted in over $2 million dollars donated to farm sanctuaries and other organizations dedicated to a healthier and kinder planet for all. I love that we were able to wrap up the conversation by giving our listeners a super simple and actionable opportunity to make a positive impact on this planet and a way to give without spending your own money, and in as little as a couple minutes a day! Official Bio: Vikas Garg is the Founder & CEO of abillion, a social commerce app focused on helping people live more sustainably. Before creating abillion, Vikas managed over $10 billion for investment banks, hedge funds, and the public pension funds & sovereign wealth funds of California, Canada, Abu Dhabi & Singapore. Vikas was awarded Credit Suisse's Global Citizenship Award and his work has been featured by CNN, CNBC, BBC, Forbes, the Financial Times, and other publications around the world.LET'S CONNECT!

On this episode of Soft Skills for Leaders, my guest is Vikas Garg, founder of Abillion, a digital platform that encourages conscious living and advocates for a vegan lifestyle to promote sustainability and social equity. Vikas has a  passion for promoting a plant-based lifestyle, and discusses how ordinary citizens can have more impact on sustainability than governments or corporations. The interview explores topics such as the importance of empathy and trust as a leader, as well as the impact of animal consumption on social equity and biodiversity. Viaks also shares his personal journey towards becoming vegan, and how ABillion aims to inspire more people to choose plant-based options through the community-based platform.  Tune in to listen to this episode,  a thought-provoking exploration of sustainability and how individuals can make a difference through their daily habits. Timestamps [00:00:30] Introducing Vikas Garg, founder of Abillion, a digital platform promoting sustainable living. [00:02:28] From India to  New York, Vikas had a successful career that led him around the world, but began to question if he wanted to spend the rest of his life in the finance space. He started to think about the role of his values and personal mission, which led him to start his own company. [00:06:16] Vikas was raised vegetarian and appreciates how his values have given him a sense of purpose. Choosing a vegan lifestyle was influenced by his parents' health issues and a better understanding of the impact on health and the environment that dairy has. [00:11:08] Sustainability is about social equity and biodiversity loss caused by consuming animals making us and the planet sick, leading to diseases, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. We have an opportunity to change. [00:15:41] Abillion inspires sustainable living through consumption, creating a digital community to help people find the best vegan options and influence businesses to do more. The community aims to inspire simple changes like modifying diet [00:22:20] Great food must be convenient and accessible. Show empathy, not judgment. Create a positive community on social media. Incremental change is good, as reduction is just as important as achieving absolute change. [00:25:30] Large, strong, fast animals are mostly vegetarian, getting protein from plants. Humans get a diluted form of protein from animals, while plants provide clean protein and essential amino acids. Dairy products are marketed as good sources of protein and calcium, but there are other options. Marketing influences ideas about food more than reality. [00:30:34] Soft skills driving success. Leadership requires listening, empathy and trust in your team. It's important to make decisions by considering everyone's voice and feelings. Trust your team and give them space to execute. [00:33:40] Exciting times are ahead for the business to impact more people and double charitable donations. Mission: inspiring a billion people to go vegan. [00:36:00] Speaking to a room of professional speakers, he didn't see that coming! Summary  An inspiring interview with a conscious living entrepreneur Vikas Garg founder of Abillion, a digital platform tackling sustainability through personal consumption.   Talking Points

In this episode of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, host Jim James interviews Vikas Garg, founder and CEO of "Abillion," a customer review app that focuses on plant-based diets and sustainable consumption. Garg shares his journey of leaving corporate banking to create a global community of vegans and foodies, and discusses how his app has been able to gather user-generated content and scale the business. Vikas' tip for entrepreneurs is to build a community around their brand to increase engagement and visibility.Join my mastermind#1 Release Distribution ServiceTell the World about Your Company with e-releases. $130 Off Newsmaker distribution.neuroflash - Generate unique marketing texts with AIAI copywriting tool to generate unique copy, predict performance and increase conversions.Descript is what I use to edit the show.All-in-one audio & video editing, as easy as a doc.Prowly - the media relations platformProwly has everything you need to get your PR work done. Support the showAm I adding value to you?If so - I'd like to ask you to support the show.In return, I will continue to bring massive value with two weekly shows, up to 3 hours per month of brilliant conversations and insights.Monthly subscriptions start at $3 per month. At $1 per hour, that's much less than the minimum wage, but we'll take what we can at this stage of the business.Of course, this is still free, but as an entrepreneur, the actual test of anything is if people are willing to pay for it.If I'm adding value to you, please support me by clicking the link now. Go ahead, make my day :)Support the show here.

In this episode of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, host Jim James interviews Vikas Garg, founder and CEO of "Abillion," a customer review app that focuses on plant-based diets and sustainable consumption. Garg shares his journey of leaving corporate banking to create a global community of vegans and foodies, and discusses how his app has been able to gather user-generated content and scale the business. Vikas' tip for entrepreneurs is to build a community around their brand to increase engagement and visibility.Join my mastermind#1 Release Distribution ServiceTell the World about Your Company with e-releases. $130 Off Newsmaker distribution.neuroflash - Generate unique marketing texts with AIAI copywriting tool to generate unique copy, predict performance and increase conversions.Descript is what I use to edit the show.All-in-one audio & video editing, as easy as a doc.Prowly - the media relations platformProwly has everything you need to get your PR work done. Support the showAm I adding value to you?If so - I'd like to ask you to support the show.In return, I will continue to bring massive value with two weekly shows, up to 3 hours per month of brilliant conversations and insights.Monthly subscriptions start at $3 per month. At $1 per hour, that's much less than the minimum wage, but we'll take what we can at this stage of the business.Of course, this is still free, but as an entrepreneur, the actual test of anything is if people are willing to pay for it.If I'm adding value to you, please support me by clicking the link now. Go ahead, make my day :)Support the show here.

Disruptors for GOOD is presented by: One Tree PlantedOne Tree Planted is a non-profit organization focused on global reforestation.If you are interested in being a part of global reforestation and would like to make a philanthropic donation or become a business partner, learn more here.---> Check out the Causeartist Partners here.---> Subscribe to the Causeartist Newsletter here.In episode 183 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we speak with Vikas Garg, Founder & CEO of abillion, on connecting consumers with countless vegan and plant-based food options and cruelty-free products.Vikas Garg is the CEO of abillion and committed to promoting sustainable living for a billion people worldwide. Vikas is passionate about supporting grassroots education and conservation programs across the globe. He has been recognized for his outstanding contributions, including receiving Credit Suisse's prestigious Global Citizenship Award, being named a Milken Institute Young Leader, and serving as a Charter Member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs.About abillionAbillion is an innovative online marketplace and global community dedicated to creating a positive impact for the planet, animals, and people. The app is focused on promoting healthy living habits by connecting users with countless vegan and plant-based food options and cruelty-free products.Sustainability is at the forefront of abillion's online marketplace, and the app offers over half a million products from food and beauty, to sustainable fashion from around the world. With abillion, you can join a growing community of like-minded individuals passionate about making a difference through healthy living and sustainability.Download on iOS and Android ---> Check out the Causeartist Partners here.---> Subscribe to the Causeartist Newsletter here.

During this episode of the Vegan Visibility Podcast, Vikas Garg, CEO of aBillion.com, sat down with host, Kathleen Gage, to talk about his app, his vision, and the vegan movement. It was a fascinating conversation that shed light on the importance of promoting ethical and sustainable food choices and the role of technology in driving change. Garg explained that aBillion.com is a platform that empowers consumers to make informed and conscious food choices as well as choices around other products and services that are aligned with the vegan movement and mission.  The app allows users to scan products and learn about various vegan products and services. It also allows them to learn about their ingredients, nutritional information, and ethical ratings. It provides a community platform for sharing recipes, tips, and insights on veganism and sustainable living. Garg's vision for aBillion.com is to create a more conscious world where consumers have access to transparent and accurate information about the products they consume. He believes that technology can be a powerful tool in promoting ethical and sustainable food choices and empowering consumers to drive change. Throughout the conversation, Garg emphasized the importance of the vegan movement and its impact on the food industry. He explained that the movement is growing rapidly and that consumers are becoming more conscious about the impact of their food choices on the environment, animal welfare, and human health. Garg's insights on the importance of promoting ethical and sustainable food choices and the role of technology in driving change were eye-opening. His vision for a more conscious food industry, and the work that he and his team are doing through aBillion.com, is truly inspiring and gives hope for a more sustainable and ethical future. www.VeganVisibility.com/259-Vikas-Garg

✨🎙️Episodio 64 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Repasamos nuestro wrapped de Spotify y os recomendamos podcasts. ►Comentamos las bondades de la app ABillion, con la que puedes generar dinero para donar a santuarios simplemente subiendo y reseñando fotos de comida o productos plant-based. ►Os traemos un estudio que acaba con el estigma de la adopción de gatos que provienen de situaciones de Síndrome de Noé (también os explicamos en qué consiste este síndrome). ►Hablamos sobre la propuesta de ley que pretendía acabar con la tauromaquia en Francia pero que finalmente ha debido retirarse por razones surrealistas. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

Il gelato vegano migliore al mondo nel 2022 è quello prodotto da Tonitto 1939. A stabilirlo è un'indagine realizzata da Abillion, piattaforma digitale che promuove la sostenibilità e l'alimentazione a base vegetale, al primo posto di questa speciale classifica si piazza il "Gelato alla Soia Tiramisù Variegato al Caffè" realizzato proprio dalla storica azienda ligure per un noto partner della gdo. I risultati sono stati determinati valutando oltre 15.000 recensioni di membri di 77 Paesi nel Mondo e in particolare Argentina, Brasile, Canada, Germania, Italia, Messico, Spagna, Singapore, Regno Unito e Stati Uniti.

Networking with other vegans and vegan businesses is easy - you just need to know where to look. By Sandra Nomoto at SandraNomoto.com Original post: https://www.sandranomoto.com/2022/03/28/network-with-other-vegans-vegan-businesses/  “The Content Doctor” Sandra Nomoto is a content writer and editor for ethical and cruelty-free businesses, and copyeditor, ghostwriter, and book formatter for authors. At 25, she founded Conscious Public Relations Inc., an award-winning public relations agency that focused on telling the stories of purpose-driven businesses. She authored The Only Public Relations Guide You'll Ever Need in 2019, and has a marketing book for vegan businesses coming out in November 2022. Sandra volunteers on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Mural Festival. She blogs on vegan lifestyle at SandraNomoto.com, and lives in East Vancouver BC Canada with her husband. How to support the podcast: Share with others. Buy some merch: https://www.plantbasedbriefing.com/shop Leave 5-star rating and review on  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plant-based-briefing/id1562925866  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2GONW0q2EDJMzqhuwuxdCF Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Based-Briefing/dp/B08K59CRM4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=18XNAH6UMO9L5&keywords=plant+based+briefing&qid=1643393899&sprefix=plant+based+briefi%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-3  Follow Plant Based Briefing on social media: Twitter: @PlantBasedBrief YouTube: YouTube.com/PlantBasedBriefing  Facebook: Facebook.com/PlantBasedBriefing  LinkedIn: Plant Based Briefing Podcast Instagram: @PlantBasedBriefing #vegan #plantbased #veganpodcast #plantbasedpodcast #plantbasedbriefing #sandranomoto #thecontentdoctor #networking #veganbusiness #veganbusinessnetworking #veganprofessionals #beyondanimal #glasswallsyndicate #plantarion #veganbusinesstribe #veganentrepreunersnetwork #veganmainstream #veganwomensummit #vegnetworkcanada #vegpreneur #vevolution #vivas #abillion #happycow #vegancheck #vegandirectory #veganlinked #veganparadise #vkind #meetup    

Vikas Garg is founder and CEO of the user-generated, plant-based app abillion and he is on a mission to change the world by inspiring a billion people to go vegan in the next decade. Abillion is vegan made easy. On downloading, the app tells you: this app will change your life and life on our planet. And I'm inclined to agree. Since ... READ MORE The post Vikas Garg and abillion Are Making Becoming Vegan Easy and Inspiring a Billion People To Go Vegan. appeared first on Healthification.

✨🎙️Episodio 32 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Al parecer, 6 de los 32 perros Beagle con los que Vivotecnia experimentará en marzo serán dados en adopción después de que la Universidad de Barcelona así lo haya solicitado. ►Ganaderos de Lorca, en Murcia, se manifiestan para defender su derecho a seguir explotando animales y las macrogranjas y acaban entrando por la fuerza en el Ayuntamiento, imitando el asalto al Capitolio. ►Analizamos las conclusiones de un estudio que investiga las mejores estrategias para empujar a los consumidores a elegir más opciones vegetales en la alimentación. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

This week's podcast is supported by our friends over at Nuzest. You can get 20% off their amazing vegan protein by visiting nuzest.us/pbn20! Joining us on the PBN Podcast today is Vikas Garg, CEO and founder of abillion–an online platform and app that helps people around the world live more sustainably and change the world one vegan dish and product at a time. Born in India, raised in New York, and currently based in Singapore, Vikas has been influenced by the various cultures, mindsets, and international encounters he's had throughout his life. He was a lifelong vegetarian, before becoming vegan in 2008. After a successful career in finance, instead of going down the traditional route, Vikas decided to put his skills and expertise towards a pursuit that aligned beliefs with his personal beliefs –a product that would do good and inspire social change. That's how in 2017 the idea for abillion was born and the platform was launched soon after in 2018. abillion has as its mission to change the world one vegan dish or product at a time, making it easier for people around the world to live sustainably. Users post reviews of vegan options at their favourite restaurants or of vegan products they use, creating a direct feedback loop with those businesses and manufacturers, encouraging them to make more sustainable choices. Since its inception, it has grown to include reviews of all kinds of vegan products including sustainable fashion, cosmetics, and more. We're sitting down today with Vikas to discuss how an app like abillion can change the way businesses interact with their customers and ultimately how that can lead to impactful social change on a global level. Sign up to aAbillion here https://abillion.onelink.me/CNPE/pbn The PBN Podcast is presented and produced by Robbie Lockie. Edited by Phil Marriott Researched by Antonia Georgieva. Junior Social Media Manager Darrell Sawczuk Show Notes 00:00 Nuzest Promo 02:10 The beginning of Vikas's plant-based journey 05:45 The impact that Earthlings had on Vikas 10:00 The role of the cow in Indian culture 13:00 The development and popularity of animal-free foods in India 15:00 How do people in India look at the removal of animal products from your lifestyle? 20:41 Building the Abillion business 40:20 The Social Dilemma - the horrifying behaviours behind social media 46:29 Social change: how can you make more of an impact with your ideas? 57:10 Stranded on a desert island

✨🎙️Episodio 31 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Debatimos sobre la idoneidad de llevar a perros a manifestaciones, su etología y sus emociones. ►Los jugadores del Zenit salen al campo con cachorros de perro para fomentar la adopción pero sale mal. ►Os traemos un estudio Faunalytics sobre como de dispuestos están a reducir el consumo de carne en países como USA, Canadá, Brasil o India, los mayores consumidores per cápita de carne a nivel mundial. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 30 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►El caso de los 32 cachorros de perro Beagle que matará Vivotecnia en Barcelona después de experimentar con ellos. ►Analizamos un episodio de GenPlayz sobre mascotas donde los animalistas defienden comer carne. ►Os traemos un estudio del BBVA que nos explica qué opinión tienen los españoles sobre los animales no humanos en cuestiones como el derecho a vivir, la sintiencia o si están a favor o en contra de la tauromaquía, los circos o la experimentación animal. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 29 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Xenotrasplantes, los trasplantes entre especies ►La historia de David Bennet, la primera persona humana a la que le han trasplantado el corazón de un cerdo y todas las problemáticas éticas que esto conlleva. ►Os traemos un estudio que nos explica si los niños realmente saben que comen animales o si consideran comestibles a las vacas o a los cerdos. ►Recordaremos a la orca Ulises, que lleva 41 años en cautividad y que pasó una temporada en el zoo de Barcelona. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 28 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►La empresa NUEVA PESCANOVA pretende abrir la primera granja de pulpos en cautividad en las Islas Canarias. ►El ministro Alberto Garzón, en declaraciones al diario británico The Guardian, insta a los españoles a reducir el consumo de carne. ►Analizamos el Test de la Empatia, un nuevo estudio para medir como reaccionamos a imágenes de explotación animal. ►Os explicamos lo que se sabe hasta el momento del DNI animal, ¿bulo o relidad? ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 26 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Las sanciones de la Unión Europea a España por la contaminación de nitratos en el subsuelo y aguas subterráneas. ►Cierran mataderos de Reino Unido por culpa del Brexit y la pandemia. ►Os explicamos que son los datos dinámicos y como utilizarlos para que la gente elija comida vegetariana. ►Os damos 8 razone spara adoptar animales en lugar de ocmprarlos ocmo regalo para estas navidades. ►Os agradecemos todo el apoyo qu enos habéis dado durante el 2021 ;) ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 26 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Repasamos el dilema moral del pienso vegano y su repercusión en redes. ►Se aprueba en España que los animales pasan de consoderarse legalmente objetos a animales sintientes. ►Os contamos el caso de un activista que ha sido condenado a 2 años de prosión por rescatar a una cabra enferma. ►Os explicamos el drama de la importación de soja desde Brasil a Europa para ser utilizada para alimentar a los animales que se explotan y se consumen. ►Os damos muchas ideas de regalos veganos y sostenibles para estas fiestas. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones (¡atención al especial Navidad de esta semana con eventos que no os queréis perder!), repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

In the fifth episode of the Principles of Change podcast, I sit down and discuss social media for social good with CEO of ''Abillion'', Vikas Garg. Abillion is the fastest growing social media platform of the vegan and plant based community and its aim is to make it easier to be vegan while simultaneously donating more than a million dollars to non profits and animal sanctuaries worldwide!In Today's Episode:IntroVikas's BackgroundHow was Abillion born?Any new features may see?How can restaurants join?Where does the money come from?Vikas's Principles of ChangeDownload Abillion here!Sign up with referral code: SEBALEX https://bit.ly/39rKNDi

✨🎙️Episodio 25 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Hablamos sobre salud mental y la importancia de acudir a terapia. ►Los pulpos, langostas, calamares, cangrejos y demás animales marinos adquieren el status de animales sintientes en el Reino Unido. ►Ampliamos la información sobre la opción 100% vegetal en los comedores públicos del Estado español. ►Un nuevo estudio asegura que nuestra personalidad influye en el bienestar de los animales con los que convivimos. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones (¡atención al especial Navidad de esta semana con eventos que no os queréis perder!), repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 24 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Veganeando por Madrid, os traemos los mejores restaurantes veganos de la capital y un par de exposiciones muy interesantes. ►"Organ on a chip", una nueva alternativa a la experimentación con animales no humanos. Aprovechamos para repasar la problemática de la experimentación animal. ►La Comunidad de Madrid se lía a tiros con las cotorras argentinas en los parques públicos de la comunidad. Es la consecuencia de la resolución de exterminar a las cotorras por considerarlas especie invasora. Repasaremos el origen de las cotorras argentinas en España. ►Un nuevo estudio con delfines analiza la personalidad de estos animales y como los cataloga en tímidos o atrevidos. ►Los comedores escolares del estado español deberán incluir una opción 100% vegetal obligatoriamente en todos los menús a partir del 2022. ►Planteamos un nuevo dilema moral relacionado con obligar a los niños de familias veganas a llevar también una alimentación 100% vegetal. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 23 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Un estudio que relaciona las orientaciones políticas con el consumo de carne o su rechazo. ►Actualización del caso Vivotecnia: El CSIC renueva contratos a la empresa acusada de violencia extrema contra los animales que utilizaban para experimentar. ►Os contamos como será el primer santuario de ballenas en Canadá. ►Os traemos las últimas novedades de la COP26. ►Planteamos un nuevo dilema moral relacionado con la carne de laboratorio. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: @infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com

✨🎙️Episodio 22 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Os explicamos como y por qué la gripe aviar tiene todos los números para convertirse en la próxima pandemia. ►Os traemos un par de estudios, uno de ellos centrado en la salud de las personas mayores que deciden llevar una dieta 100% vegetal. ►Os explicaremos el caso de los Brumbies australianos, una raza de caballos que estorba a las autoridades australianas. Tienen planeado matar a más de 10.000 individuos. ►Planteamos un nuevo dilema moral relacionado con los perros de servicio o asistencia y los animales de apoyo emocional. ►Y como siempre, recomendaciones, repaso de la semana, anécdotas y mucho más ;) 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: https://twitter.com/infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com ►Si te ha gustado, por favor dale like, suscríbete al canal, compártelo con quien quieras y dale a la campanita para que te avisemos cuando subamos un nuevo vídeo.

✨🎙️Episodio 21 del podcast VEGANISMO Y SOSTENIBILIDAD de Infovegana✨🎙️ 🔥En este episodio hablamos de: ►Un estudio en USA analiza si las alternativas veganas a las hamburguesas, salchichas o nuggets son o no más saludables que sus homónimas de origen animal. Te contamos los resultados. ►En la COP26, la cumbre mundial para diseñar estrategias que frenen la crisis climática, se servirá carne de ternera y no se hablará de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero asociadas a la producción de productos de origen animal. ►Analizamos estudios que asocian muertes prematuras con la contaminación atmosférica asociada en mayor parte a les emisiones producidas por la producción animal de alimentos. ►Carne y masculinidad, ¿por qué el consumo de carne se asocia a fuerza, virilidad y poder? ►Recomendamos artistas, diseñadores y webs, no te las pierdas ;) ►Nuevo DILEMA MORAL: Piensos 100% vegetales para perros y gatos, ¿a favor o en contra? Analizamos diferentes estudios que arrojan un poco de luz sobre le tema. 📢Si queréis empezar a utilizar ABILLION podéis registraros con el código de referido "MARIAFORTHEANIMALS" y por cada 10 publicaciones que realicéis recibiréis 10€ para donar a la causa que elijáis y nosotras recibiremos 2,5€. Todo lo recaudado en Abillion se dona íntegro al santuario animal FUNDACIÓN EL HOGAR ANIMAL SANCTUARY. 💥CADA DOMINGO UN NUEVO EPISODIO DEL PODCAST (disponible en Ivoox, Spotify, Apple Podcast y Youtube) 💙Nuevo formato, más relajado, donde charlamos tranquilamente sobre anécdotas, comentamos noticias, os planteamos dilemas morales y compartimos recomendaciones. Todo relacionado con el antiespecismo, el veganismo y la sostenibilidad. ★Si te apetece, puedes ver nuestro contenido de otras RRSS★ 👉IG: https://www.instagram.com/info_vegana/ 👉TW: https://twitter.com/infovegana 👉WEB: https://infovegana.com/ 👉CONTACTO: hola@infovegana.com ►Si te ha gustado, por favor dale like, suscríbete al canal, compártelo con quien quieras y dale a la campanita para que te avisemos cuando subamos un nuevo vídeo.

In this episode, I interview Vikas Garg, the founder and CEO of abillion, a sustainability platform for plant-based dishes and cruelty-free products. Four years ago, Vikas left his high-flying career at one of the world's largest hedge funds after he found a new mission — to help and inspire a billion people to go vegan in the next 10 years. Based in Singapore, Vikas is dedicated to grassroots education and conservation initiatives around the world. Abillion currently has more than 300,000 active users and the app has been downloaded nearly 1 million times. Through its giving program, the business has donated over $500,000 to impactful causes and is aiming to donate more than $1 million by the end of 2021. In this interview, Vikas discusses: • How he came up with the idea of abillion and its unique offering • The challenges of creating an app based on user-generated content, with no tech experience in a new country where he knew no one and a precarious visa situation • How he attracted millions of dollars in funding for a social impact business • How he plans to monetize the platform while helping small business owners sell their products and gain valuable consumer insights • Why he decided to use much of the investment money on donating to charitable causes, rather than on marketing • The marketing strategies he used to build and grow the business • Unexpected trends in the plant-based food market uncovered by abillion's data • And more Download the abillion app on iTunes or Google Play Visit the abillion website   RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

In collaboration with the Peak's next gen of leaders series, Shehzad Haque sitting in for Michelle Martin and Vikas Garg, Founder & CEO, Abillion discusses the inception of the company, building the platform and reaching conscious consumers.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vikas Garg, abillion Founder and CEO on Changing the World One Dish At A Time Vikas Garg is the Founder & CEO of abillion, a global community on a mission to help a billion people create world-changing impact. Vikas is a dedicated supporter of education and conservation initiatives around the world. He's received Credit Suisse's Global Citizenship Award, is a Young Leader of the Milken Institute, and a Charter Member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs.  A bold idea to change the world brought the abillion team together in the summer of 2017. They wanted to change the world. They started out of Vikas' apartment in Singapore, complete with a furry friend and a fridge full of kale. We've grown but we still maintain our family values as a small, hardworking team. Connect with Vikas https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikas-garg/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/abillion/ https://www.instagram.com/abillion/ The Episode's Full Transcript Vikas Garg-full 6-21-21 [00:00:00] Vikas Garg: [00:00:00] A big part of what we are is an online experience, but that online experience of course extends into the offline world and often extends into something that we all love, which is the funny thing is this is something that we do three, four times a day, and it plays such a pivotal role in. The global economy and in so many, so many aspects of our lives, but also from a sustainability perspective. [00:00:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:29] Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:51] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup [00:01:00] of@buymeacoffee.com slash IzoldaT. And now let's get on with the show. [00:01:13] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm super happy that you're here and listening to this incredible episode. I'm also incredibly happy to introduce you to this week's guest. Vikas Garg is the founder and CEO of a billion, a global community on a mission to help a billion people create world changing impact. [00:01:34] You know, that's right. What I'm going to love talking about Vikas is a dedicated supporter of education and conservation initiatives around the world. He's received credit Suisse's global citizenship award is a young leader of the Milken Institute and a charter member of the Indus entrepreneurs. [00:01:53] He's amazing. And he had a bold idea to change the world, and that is exactly what he and his team [00:02:00] are working on. I'm so thrilled to welcome the cost guard. Thank you so much for being here. Hi, how are you? I am fabulous. Thank you so much for asking. I, I wanted, I want, first of all, I want to say that you, I am in New York city and you are in Singapore, so it is in the evening for me. [00:02:18] And it is the very next day in the morning for you. And that's that, that was a little trippy for me. So I was like, oh yeah, it's tomorrow for you. So, and for you it's today and I'm, I'm here, back here and yesterday. So I yesterday that's right. I am, I am so honored and excited to have you on the show actually, because anybody who knows me for any length of time will hear me talk about being vegan and being plant what I call plant powered. [00:02:46] And I, I want to sort of lift up this notion that you have of changing the world and that a billion is about something that's really close to my heart. [00:03:00] It's about getting 1 billion people. To commit to being plant-based by the year 2030. And I was wondering what started this for you? What made you decide that this was going to be your mission? [00:03:15] Vikas Garg: [00:03:15] Oh, great question. And, and thanks. Firstly, thank you for having me on the show. Thank you for having me on the show. My pleasure. And it's always, always nice to, to talk to a fellow new Yorker. I've been living out here in Singapore for the last six years, but grew up in New York city and just immense gratitude for, for having us on the show today. [00:03:35]Yeah, so, you know, I found. So how has the new Yorker? I originally came to New York when I was four years old from India. And one of the things that my mom and dad did to really in a way to preserve our culture and our heritage there were many things that we did, you know, including just like we used to speak Hindi at home, but we also stayed sort of tried and true to our vegetarianism when I was a kid. [00:03:58]And so I, from, [00:04:00] from the day that I was born I was raised vegetarian and growing up in New York in the eighties. You know, like being vegetarian meant that like pretty much my entire food pyramid often was like a slice of pizza. It was like the easiest thing to pretty much get everywhere. And like, you kind of, you know, you could sort of, as a kid, know what you were getting, get like a slice of cheese pizza or a bagel with cream cheese. [00:04:26] And I grew up, so I grew up vegetarian. I grew up never eating meat. And so, and I grew up a big animal lover. Even a bug lover. And it was just something that I got from my mom and dad. It was a really big part of our culture. So, you know, fast forward in my twenties, I decided I wanted to go vegan and that was due to a number of different reasons. [00:04:46]Both my mom and dad got sick, really, really, really sick. And I started to look at like, why are two very, very seemingly healthy people getting so sick? I getting things like heart disease and cancer. And a [00:05:00] lot of the time I started look at a lot of it just started to point to food. I also just other factors kind of involved in that and, and I. [00:05:09] I basically, I went vegan. And what, for me, even as a vegetarian felt very hard at the time because it meant that it meant giving up a lot of the things that I had come to love. Right. It meant like giving up on things like cheese and, you know, especially when you're talking about certain kinds of cuisines foods, whether it's Italian food or Indian food, you know, there's, there's butter in everything. [00:05:34] There's, there's you know, there's eggs and everything there, dairy and everything. There's cheese in nearly everything. Right. And, and it just felt like a huge compromise. And I was already sort of the weird, you know, the, I was already the guy that whenever I went out with all my friends, I've asked like two questions. [00:05:52] To make something vegetarian. And now I was the guy that had to ask five questions to make something be good for sure. You know, and, and so it was, [00:06:00] it, it really very much, it really, in the beginning felt like a compromise and a sacrifice for me. Fast-forward or I'd say that this idea of me going vegan has probably been one of the defining influences, one of the defining factors in my life. [00:06:19] And one of the things that's created, immense joy and immense positivity and immense mindfulness, and really given me so much confidence and control over my life. And it's something that has gone from being sacrificial and compromising to something that's just truly an inspired way of living that helps me feel incredibly connected to everything and incredibly connected to the earth and cry more connected to other people. [00:06:46]You know, very, very, very sort of. I'd say clued into who I am and giving me a sense of purpose and values and that every single day, every single choice I make is, has that [00:07:00] connection as that little connection back to my values, which gives me a lot of confidence in life because I'm leading a life full of purpose and values. [00:07:09] So that was, you know, w w just going back to your question is to sort of, how did I come about this is I finally had, you know, sort of the opportunity in my life. I finally felt like I had gotten to the stage where I was ready to start a company. And I had a career. I didn't have this, we're effectively, we're a technology company, but I, I didn't have a career in tech. [00:07:32] I had a career in finance. And I, you know, I just felt like, okay, I I'm going to make this. I made this decision that I'm going to start my own thing. And I just looked around and I just was like, You know, I spent my entire career, my entire life, 15, 16 years working in an industry, but I ha I was gonna sort of do what I was going to do now for them. [00:07:55] I had the opportunity to do something for the next 30 or 40 years. [00:08:00] And I had an opportunity to really choose what that thing was. Right. So it started to really feel like, wow, I'm still, even though I've been doing something my entire life, I still feel like I'm, I'm, I'm in the early stages of the rest of my life and what do I want to do with it? [00:08:17] And so, you know, I, at the time, I just felt like it was really an opportunity to improve social media, to improve the whole landscape of e-commerce. To build something that was more inspiring and impactful. You know, and I th I really felt like social media was broken. That social media was this sort of failed experiment. [00:08:38] It was this great connector of people, but then it, it, you know, these communities around the world had formed and some of them had become extremely toxic. And, you know, you can see what happened, you know, the 2016 election or even in the last election, right. And many, many other events that happen in society every single day that, you know, that, that social media is, is, has sort of [00:09:00] become responsible for it. [00:09:01] And I just felt like, you know, look, there's, there's an opportunity to create something that actually improve people's lives and improve people's lives and actually stood for something. So that's been the grand experiment for us. I just felt like if we could create something and bring people together in a community, and then we could inspire them and make it easier for people to around the world to live in a more sustainable way. [00:09:23]And remove sort of the barriers and, you know, part of those barriers are, you know, when you go out to eat, some of them are when you go shopping. Some of them are when you travel. Some of them are just sort of when you're, you know, when you're, when you're out and about your day-to-day lives and said, Hey, and some of them involve just having support in your community, right? [00:09:43] Because you may not have that support in your community. So we really wanted to create this kind of community, an online community, a community that, you know, people around the world really could join and feel supported in this journey towards a more sustainable world, a more vegan world. And we felt that this idea [00:10:00] of going vegan, whether it's all the time, or even just consciously making an effort to be. [00:10:07] More vegan some of the time was a huge step in the right direction for the world. And that was something that was worth fighting for it. And then that's sort of how it got started about three and a half years ago. [00:10:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:10:20] Wow. I feel like you should just go and Mike drop and that's it. Yeah. Wow. I'm taking all of that in everything that you said, and there's, so there's so much, there's so much wealth that you've talked about and that isn't necessarily monetary wealth, that feeling of being connected, that feeling of having that confidence. [00:10:44] I love that what you have chosen is to be purposeful with the work that you're doing, because you could have done another app on time management. You could have done another app on, you know, this is how you buy stocks or whatever, but, but you turned it on its [00:11:00] head and you went, no I'm going to do something that means something and use all my skills to do it. [00:11:04] And so when you, when you talked about the sort of early days when you were growing up and how you had to, you know, I'll have a slice of cheese pizza, things have evolved, things have changed, and now we can get there. There are so many restaurants that are vegan only for example. So, so within that framework, within that framework of, of things evolving, what role do you see a billion playing as things move forward? [00:11:31] Cause I know you've got this 20, 30 timeframe, but what role do you see a billion playing in addition to yourself in making that go even further than it otherwise might. [00:11:42] Vikas Garg: [00:11:42] Yeah, sure. So we start, excuse me. So we start with the idea of consumer advocacy first, right? And how do you take data? How do you take consumer data and really use it to actually improve the world? [00:11:55] So where obviously a big part of what we are is an online experience, but that [00:12:00] online exterior experience of course extends into the offline world and often extends into something that we all love, which is ticking. Right. And the funny thing is this is something that we do three, four times a day and it plays such a pivotal role in the global economy. [00:12:17] And. In, in so many, so many aspects of our lives, but also from a sustainability perspective. So for us we started with this idea that, Hey, like people are gonna, you know, people, people get on our app. They, they network with each other. They kind of, you know, they follow each other. They use the app to find great vegan options that can be vegan dishes at any kind of restaurant anywhere in the world. [00:12:39] And we kind of gamified the whole process. We don't focus just on vegan restaurants or vegetarian restaurants, but he's really said, Hey, like if we're going to actually, if the world is going to become a lot more sustainable through vegan food, what we really need to do is create a, create a business, create a company that helps the world helps all of the world's businesses [00:13:00] create. [00:13:00] More vegan food and popularize that amongst people. So that's really, that's a big part of what we do is we do a lot of consumer advocacy. So when, for example, if you went to a restaurant today, you took a photo of your vegan dish, right. That review, then just go, then it goes into the app, but it doesn't stop there. [00:13:20] Our team then goes and figures out. Who's the owner of that business manager of that business, et cetera. And then we get that review back to those business owners. We not only do that, but if we're talking about, let's say it's a Japanese restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, we're then going to send that restaurant. [00:13:37] All of the best rated vegan, Japanese dishes information, a reviews, op options, information to show them. And for many, many different restaurants around New York city and around the world, we might send them the best rated vegan, Japanese dishes from Tokyo. And the whole reason we do that from a consumer advocacy perspective is we want to show them that there's [00:14:00] this global movement growing. [00:14:01] We want to show them that there's an, there's an economic opportunity in having great vegan options. And if we can really have that conversation with that business, that, Hey, it makes sense to have three, four, five, six, 10, you know, to have 20, 30% of your, of your menu being plant-based. Then we actually really start to move the needle. [00:14:22] When you start to think about sustainability, if we could get thousands of restaurants in a, in a, in a geography to actually start thinking this way, And shifting from, you know, let's say one vegan dish, one vegetarian district, you're even lucky to having 10%, 20% than 30% of their menus be plant-based, we'll make a really, really big impact for every body. [00:14:46] And every thing that's kind of involved in the global food system, including the animals and land the environment and people, of course. So that's really in a way, that's, that's a big part of the role that we want to play, which is consumer advocacy [00:15:00] working on behalf of the consumer to give you a sense of it. [00:15:02] Last year, we sent more than 5 million emails all around the world with this kind of information and that sort of competitive landscape, really trying to in a way, create a meritocracy for the whole plant-based industry, trying to say, Hey, Hey, steakhouse. Right. Like, there are people who will go to a steak house and eat right. [00:15:24] If they have a great vegan option and, you know, ironically I, in my career, that's exactly what I used to have to do because I was a banker in New York and, you know, I'd have clients come from other parts of the United States. And I they'd want to go to, you know, some of, one of the famous steakhouses in New York, like Peter Luger and Brooklyn. [00:15:44] And, you know, I'd be sitting there as the vegetarian and then the vegan, and I'd always have this, you know, I'd have this awkward moment where it was like, okay, I'm getting tomatoes and I'm getting  and I'm getting some broccoli, all things that I really love. Right. Like, cause like [00:16:00] I'm very much like I, more than anything I love, well, I love my pasta, but I like more than anything. [00:16:06] I love my whole plant-based sort of, you know, foods and. I just would always be having these conversations with restaurant owners, be like, Hey look, like, I wouldn't mind coming back here and bringing my parents and bringing up friends. Right. But like, can you have one or two really great options for me? [00:16:26] Right. And often that feedback, they would respond to it. Right. And, and, you know, overwhelmingly, we felt like, okay, if we could do this at some scale, then that would be really great. If we could leverage technology to do this instead of door to door activism, if we could leverage technology to do this on a much larger scale, we could really move the needle. [00:16:47] And so today, if you look at just with restaurants and then there's a whole other side to our platform, which is which is, you know, purely from like a consumer review perspective, it's consumer products. And today we have [00:17:00] 160,000 consumer products across about 40,000 brands on our platform. I get to that later, but like the you know, when you look at just the restaurant side of it today, we have. [00:17:10] About 50,000 restaurants on our platform globally, about 65% of them receive this kind of information from us. Sometimes, sometimes it's just impossible to find out any information about a business. It's a business is sitting in Vietnam or maybe in Thailand or in, you know, in, in, in, in, in. You know, in, in Argentina for example, right. [00:17:33] It, it just sometimes it's is a bit difficult, but generally we're able to find that information more than half the time. And we've seen tremendous results when we first started here in Singapore three and a half years ago. And we day one, we started sort of as a global app, but we had zero content. [00:17:49] We had zero users. We started with zero users, zero content, you know, and, and built it up from there. But when we got first got started in Singapore is probably because [00:18:00] we're here because the company is here and all of our team this year, you know, this is one of our most engaged markets globally. When we first got started here in Singapore, I think in our first year we found that there were like less than a thousand vegan options available on restaurant menus, right. [00:18:17] Uh, Restaurants on our platform and that number, like we just did our second annual Singapore, top 50 vegan dish awards. Right. And it's funny because like 40 of those restaurants that are on that list for, you know, the 50, and it's not 50, it's not 50 restaurants, it's 50 dishes because we really think that that's what people, you know, people care about what they're eating, what's on their plate more than anything these days, but like of the 50 dishes, I think around 40, at least 40 of those restaurants are not vegan or vegetarian restaurants. [00:18:50]But they're just, we we've, we just did that. And today, thanks to a lot of the work that we've done. A lot of the work that a lot of other organizations, [00:19:00] companies, et cetera, people have done, we've gone from in the last three, four years. We've gone from a thousand vegan dishes on menus to 16,000. Yes. And you know, so that's pretty awesome. [00:19:11] Like, and it's a huge honor, of course, where, you know, You pick the top 50 from 16,000 it's it's, it's quite a big honor. Right? So it was seeing restaurants respond to that. And like, you know, people get our frame certificates and very meat, heavy restaurants who would have never thought that they were getting, you know, they were going to get an award from a vegan company, a vegan organization, and they're so delighted, you know, they frame it, they put it right up next to their wine spectator award and, and, you know, and, and what ends up happening is they create more plant-based options and they start talking about them and then those things get started. [00:19:49] You know, those ordered, they get ordered and that's really ultimately what creates impact, right? Because that larger pool of businesses around the world that, [00:20:00] you know, we know are never going to, they're likely not going to become vegan businesses. But there's a real opportunity that if we can get them to sort of shift to 20, 30, 40% vegan, that's going to make a massive impact for everything that we care about. [00:20:16] So that's a big role that we play. Obviously we need to grow. Like we want to grow our user base. We want to grow our membership around the world. Our community is really strong right now, and it's in a hundred plus countries. And we just want to grow that and continue building. And as the community gets stronger and the use case gets stronger and the, the, the, the, our sort of product, which is our app gets better and better and better that impact that we make sort of on people in terms of being able to sort of guide people and show them. [00:20:51] And, you know, you mentioned like, You're getting, like, I think that, you know, I've liked a couple of your posts and stuff like that. And it's, I was talking to one of our members in Vancouver [00:21:00] two, three weeks back, and she was telling me how, like she became vegan a year ago. There's a farm animal sanctuary I'm on Vancouver island that we support it's called Rosta. [00:21:12] And she got a flyer about the sanctuary from a friend of hers. And she said, you know, I'm like, this is interesting. You know, I, maybe I should cut down my meat consumption and share that the, the, the sanctuary talks about us as, you know, a great tool for that. And so she started using our app about a year ago and now she and her entire family had become a hundred percent vegan. [00:21:33]And, you know, not only are they become vegan, but they're trying out foods from around the planet. So because they're able to see like people in Singapore or other parts of Asia or parts of Europe and south America are eating, there's a feed. And she, her whole family has gotten an inspiration for cooking and trying new things. [00:21:55] And, you know, and it's, it's, she's felt that it's a very, very [00:22:00] supportive, positive community that really backs her up, that when she posts something, right. Whether she makes something at home using, you know, a plant-based meat product and she takes a photo of it when she posts something, she sees all these comments and she sees all of this engagement and she's built this community and it really feels very supportive and it's really helped her continue on her journey and path to being vegan. [00:22:27] And we love that. Like, I love that, that, that is in a way that is the biggest thing that we can do from an impact perspective is how do we help people and support people on this journey? We know it's hard, right? We know it's not perfect. It's not about perfection, but it's about how do you provide a really supportive community that just rallies behind everybody and supports each other. [00:22:51] And that's really the big shift that we see that we want to see happening in social media as well. So super, super excited about that. And [00:23:00] and you know, really just trying to, trying to build that up and trying to really help people sort of create impact and feel good about creating impact. We have a lot of sort of work around that, that we're doing, but we, I think we do a pretty good job of it today and it's been amazing to, to kind of, to, to kind of see it grow and where it's going to go in the next eight, nine, 10 years. [00:23:20] I can't, you know, I, I can't tell you, but we're, we're all working hard towards that goal. Have a billion [00:23:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:23:25] people. I love that goal. I'm, I'm 110% behind you, a billion percent, if you will. You know, w what's interesting about what you said, and there's so much, there's, you know, you're talking and I'm going, yes, this, I need to ask about this and I need to ask about this. [00:23:40] And, and the thing that, that struck me so hard as you were talking, I've, I've had that happen. The, I go to a restaurant and I have to pick the vegetables that I'm going to ask you to put together. And I go, you know, can you put this together in a salad? Or can you saute these for me in some oil and some garlic, blah, blah, blah. [00:23:58] What's often happened [00:24:00] is. That the chef and I've had this happen several times. The chef comes out and goes, you know, I've never thought of putting these together like that. Do you mind if this is tomorrow is special? No, I do not mind if this is tomorrow special and I've actually had dishes that I've sort of put together, like that end up on the permanent menu of restaurants and amazing. [00:24:20] Yeah, it's really, it's, it's very, it was one of them was called the Isolde salad, which I thought was just hilarious. But, but but the reason I'm bringing this up is because it was a, it was a perception shift, I guess, for the chef. So that notion of we can change, not just the consumers, percept perceptions, but the people who are actually running the restaurants are making the food, their perception that it's possible to make vegan food. [00:24:48] That is good for you and all of that, but also that is scrumptious. That is really [00:24:52] Vikas Garg: [00:24:52] delicious that people want that people [00:24:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:24:53] want. Right. So, so, so how. How do we do that [00:25:00] on a, on a, and maybe this isn't part of a billion's mission, but how do we do that on a bigger scale? Because yes, I've, I've had the, as oldest salad become part of, of this Italian restaurants, permanent menu, but, but what do, what can we do as, as people who might be on a billion or people who might not yet know about it, but now of course you do. [00:25:20] So go and get the app, but how, what can we do to change the perception of the people in the industry? Like I see that you're doing the mailings to the restaurants. Is there anything else that we can be doing? And if so, what do you think that is? [00:25:34] Vikas Garg: [00:25:34] Yeah, look, I think that we all think that we all can be really great advocates, right? [00:25:39] So anybody who's listening in on this, on this podcast You know, it can be a voice. Right. And I think that that's one of the most powerful things that you can do is communicate with people. Often, like, I mean, I, in, in Asia specifically when I got here six years ago, one of the things that I saw was, you know, people, a lot of people, when you go to a place, just kind of [00:26:00] accept the status quo for what it is. [00:26:03] Right. And, and so you just ended up, you either, you use a search and you try to find places that have things that you want or things that you can have and you set things as a way. It is a little bit more and we just really wanted to change that. Right. But at the same time, like you get in a place like New York, right. [00:26:20] Where I'd say that, you know, at a place like America, where businesses are much more likely to adapt and try to do anything, they can. To, you know, to, to please a customer and ensure that person's happy. You know, we ha we all have a voice. And so the best thing that anyone can do is, you know, is, Hey, like, you know, be a voice, be a voice for the movement. [00:26:46] Right. Always ask the question and try to have that conversation when you can and try to be really positive about it. Right. So I think that sometimes what happens and, you know, it's always hard to generalize. I don't like generalizing, but I think that sometimes what [00:27:00] happens is some of the, some of the ways that we sort of go about having a voice sometimes are not sometimes can be a bit, bit more argumentative than they are helpful. [00:27:11] And I think it's just a matter of sort of, you know, tone and it's matter of of, of, of, of casting sort of what we're doing, what we want in a very positive way. And reinforce it very positively. I know that the challenges with social issues, right. Is there so much on the line, right. And it's so personal. [00:27:35]And I, you know, so, so for me, like I grew up as an activist since the time that I was a kid in New York and I went to my first peanut rally when I was just seven or eight years old, you know, and, and I kind of always been clued in to sanctuaries and, you know, and, and, and I, and so I, I, I grew up in sort of around this and I was also like, I was a constant debater and I was on the debate team and, you know, and I just, what I [00:28:00] have found is that debate for the sake of debate and you know, or, or, or this like that, you need to be right. [00:28:06] Sort of mentality often. Ends up putting you in a box and I, and, and what you want. And sometimes we forget about, well, what is it that we want? And what's maybe the most effective way to get what we want. And often I would just say that at least what I've learned, and I just turned 40 is can just have it. [00:28:26] You can have a pleasant conversation with somebody that usually does that. I can usually do the trick or at least plant a seed. So yeah, I think that's something that all we all can do. And of course, like, you know plea, like, of course, you know, folks can get on the, get on the app. Like we're really building the social community around this sort of positive messaging and consumer advocacy. [00:28:45]And, you know, give it a shot, try it out. Because not only will whatever work or whatever time you invest in this. Help you and it'll be fun cause it's fun. Just, you know, social [00:29:00] media has to be fun and it's meant to be enjoyable for whatever amount of time you spend on it every day. But then not only that, but it also creates a lot of impact in the world and a lot of positive social change. [00:29:12] And that's really why we designed it is really to give everybody, even people who are not necessarily comfortable, you know, going around and sort of speaking and doing that. Or maybe you're just too busy, an opportunity to just do something fun and gamify that. Do something fun and still make a lot of positive change in society. [00:29:34] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:29:34] I like that you combine both of them. That's that's wonderful. And it's interesting what you were talking about being positive. The app definitely feels, it feels very upbeat. It feels very positive. It feels like I'm contributing to something. When I, when I leave a review and I, and I love that. And, and yet I was telling somebody about it who is not vegan. [00:29:55] And the response I got was, Ugh, another vegan thing, you know? [00:30:00] And that's that, I'm not always positive when I talk about it, because I get, I get into that whole billions of animals are slaughtered every year mindset very quickly. So it's hard for me to stay positive when that is in the forefront. And yet. [00:30:13]When I'm talking about the app to people who are already either vegan, friendly or vegan themselves, it's a really positive experience and I'm getting people to sign up and go, oh, this is cool. When I talk about it to non vegans, there's a, there's an eye roll. And so what is your, what is your thought? [00:30:30] How, how is it best to talk about these subjects? And you said positive and that's great. And yet if they're, if you immediately meet sort of a wall of resistance, is it just a, okay. You're not a person I can talk about this with, or do you have any strategies to talk to people? [00:30:45] Vikas Garg: [00:30:45] Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and you just, you know, just to clarify, like when I say positive, I, you know, I can imagine some of my friends were very passionate activists, their eyes rolling, because it's like, [00:31:00] it's what I want. [00:31:02] I don't mean, you know, like what I don't mean, like, you know, it, it wouldn't be cool for, like, we all know can like racism. Right. Let's just take racism for example, right. There's no, like, we're all like trying to like, from, from like a, a vegan activist perspective. Right. If I was to where my, my sort of, you know, my, my, my activism hat for a second, right. [00:31:24] I would, it's not, I would say that it's not cool. It's not cool to kill a little less. Right. Like, I would say something like that, like you know, and, and we would, I'd say that most people, if you ask them, is it okay to be a little racist? They'd be like, no, what are you talking about? Like, that's not, that's not cool. [00:31:44] Like, you can't be a little racist. And so it's like, you know, I would make the arguments as well. So you're saying, is it it's okay to kill a little, right. Cause like, they'd be like, no, it's not okay to kill a little bit. That's what you do every single day when you, you know, [00:32:00] you eat animals and things like that. [00:32:01] So like that sort of positive, I guess that's the, that idea of sort of positive messaging just for it. What I mean by that is you, to you, what I have found that works the best is sort of being able to relate to people. Right. And we can talk about all of the animal lives. And when you start talking about things like in the billions, often people kind of zone out cause it's, it just, it takes somebody out of their immediate sort of day-to-day life. [00:32:35] But when you can talk to somebody in a way that really connects with them on a personal basis, and the best way to do that is to tell your own personal story. And really like, why are you doing this? And how does it impact you? And really I'd say that that's probably the thing that I have found, you know, it doesn't always work, but that's what I, at least when I come at it [00:33:00] from a very, very personal way, and I talk about my own health and I talk about my mom and dad, and I talk about, you know, I talk about my dog for instance and I talk about the changes that I felt and the struggles that I had you know, that then becomes a very personal story. [00:33:23] And while somebody may not agree with it there, I'll probably a lot more willing to just kind of accept it or recognize that. Okay, cool. I get what this person is about and that's. Like that's their journey. And I respect that. Right. So then like, you know, at least you stroke, I think you establish a foundation which you can then build on from there because the person at least appreciates where you're coming from, some people will, of course never be receptive or be open-minded. [00:33:57] And, and, you know, unfortunately, you know, [00:34:00] like we, we, we live in a world where there's a lot of, you know, human beings are very complex and intellectually, emotionally, mentally, physically, we're also a very, very diverse, you're not going to convince everybody. And that's, you know, th th I, I don't know if there's, you know, it's really about that. [00:34:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:34:20] Well, it's it's for you. It's about a billion, which I think is good and, and more than a billion would be even better. I, I that's for sure. It's, what's interesting. That feeling of connection that you talked about earlier is similar to what I heard you say just now that, that it is it's meeting people where, where they are with where you are and I, and I totally respect that. [00:34:45] And yet when I, when I think about it, I'm going okay. So there are all these benefits that you, that you have sort of rot, if you will, you've brought all these benefits from being vegan. And [00:35:00] yet, I don't know. Do you sometimes feel like you're tilting at windmills or do you see enough potential that it, that it's worth it to keep going? [00:35:14] Vikas Garg: [00:35:14] Oh, definitely. I mean, I definitely see a lot of potential. And you know, we do a lot of things. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't work. Sometimes they don't work in the short term and often there is sort of this sense. It's very easy when you've got a whole room full of people to like constantly be pivoting or changing their mind. [00:35:35] And often the hardest thing to do is to stay on tack a hard. One of the artist's things to do is, is really believe in what you're doing and believe in something that maybe not a lot of other people really see as as valuable. And, you know, look, you've got to take it in and you've got to, like, you've got to really analyze it. [00:35:54] You've got to do your work. But you've also got to have conviction and things in life and, [00:36:00] and that's sort of the hardest, I'd say that's one of the hardest things. Sometimes because you could talk to five different people and get five different opinions. Sometimes it's just the way that you ask a question you know, where, you know, you're, you're almost setting yourself up to, to get a certain kind of response. [00:36:16] So it's really, it's it's, I think it's about, I think it's about having, I think a lot of it it's about having conviction and then really thinking, at least for us, like thinking about like, okay, well, how do we build a business and how do we, and some to some degree stay grounded in the way that business works. [00:36:33]And you know, and, and, you know, you're trying to create a new kind of business in an industry that, you know, is evolving, but not a lot of people are sort of accepted yet. But you think it's the future. And so it's, it's hard. It's really, really, really hard. But, but it's also really fun and it's rewarding and. [00:36:55] You know, it's it's when, when you do have your wins, it feels really, really great. [00:37:01] [00:37:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:37:01] I'm sure it does. Absolutely. And you know, it's funny. I, there are people who've known me forever in a day. And one of the first things that they ask me when they see me again, after not having seen me for a while or so you eat meat yet. [00:37:15] And it's it's as if they think it's a temporary thing. And I'm like, it's been over 30 years, I think. I think I'm done. But the interesting thing here is that thing that you said about confidence, there is, there is a, there is a power in my mind to. Standing in your truth. You know, my truth for me, I'm never, I'm never eating animals or any animal products. [00:37:38] Again, I don't use animal products. So that's my truth. And you said earlier that you feel a greater sense of confidence since you have gone vegan. And I would love it. If you could talk a little bit about what the flavor of that is, what is the root of that and, and how do you see it playing out in the way you've [00:38:00] innovated this entire social media space? [00:38:02] He does. [00:38:08] Vikas Garg: [00:38:08] Sorry. Could you repeat that question? [00:38:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:38:12] I got the room. Yeah, [00:38:14] Vikas Garg: [00:38:14] I got the, I got the, I guess, sorry she knocked on the door and knocked on the door. I heard, I heard the, I heard the first part of it, but then I wasn't, I'm not, I wasn't clear. No [00:38:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:38:25] worries. No worries. I love it. Well, the question. No, no, no, no, no, no. [00:38:29] That's great. You know, it's it, this is about it's funny. I the podcast got into the fourth edition of podcasting for dummies. It actually was, was featured in the book and it was featured in the slice of life podcast area. So that's because that's what this is. Things happen. This is a slice of life. [00:38:47] So the question was actually about how your level of confidence has suffused your ability to innovate in, in the social media space, which has innovation, things like, you know, Tik TOK or [00:39:00] whatever. But this is, this is innovation with a purpose. And I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about how your level of confidence relates your ability to go to, I don't know if you have sponsors or if you have investors, but your ability to go to people who don't know anything about this, who don't know anything about veganism and be confident enough to go. [00:39:18] This is a really cool thing, and this is why you want to be part of it. [00:39:23] Vikas Garg: [00:39:23] Yeah, look, you know, you have to turn over a lot of stones. It's very competitive. And depending on who you talk to one person's sort of one person's gauge of success looks very different than another person's gauge of success. [00:39:39]And you know the, the, the thing about, you know, the thing about the space is there's there's, you just, you have to, you have to find, you have to, you know, you have to do the work and you have to, you have to find the people who are going to support you, whether it's financially, and we're very much a venture backed [00:40:00] company at this stage you know, and, and our revenues. [00:40:03]You know, if, if, if tomorrow our funding just completely dried up our revenues definitely wouldn't support what we're, what we're doing and building, we're not a very cap. We're not a very capital intensive business at this stage. We will become a more capital intensive business at this stage. And so it's really, again, it's setting yourself up for thinking, okay, like, well, what does this business really look like over the next three, four, five years? [00:40:25] What are we building? And and really being able to communicate that effectively and meet the folks and build relationships with people and, and, and yeah, and convey, convey that sense of confidence. But behind that sense of confidence, it can't just be back, you know, behind that sense of confidence. [00:40:48] There also has to be work and a plan and a, and being able to sort of describe and show and build. All the things that we need to do [00:41:00] in order to make our business, you know, fundamentally sound and sustainable. So we can be in business in the next 20, 30, and 50 years and get level over the next two. [00:41:11] Yeah, let alone the next sort of two. Right, right. You know, which it really is. It's like, it's like, you want to build yourself for longterm success, but you've got to really think about like, well, okay, how are you going to survive in the next one year, in the next two years? Especially, I'd say that until you get to the stage where you have a hit product, right. [00:41:30] And that takes time, you know, with some of the biggest companies in the food space that that's, you know, that's taken them before, before everybody, you know, in America had heard about the beyond burger. You know, it was even well before it was even the beyond burger was called something else that company had been around for, for almost a decade, by the time, you know, people really started to kind of, it started to go mainstream. [00:41:57] And so while, [00:42:00] you know, while folks like Ethan and the people around him had that vision, they also were very smart about executing and building. And I'm sure that, you know, while they were thinking about what 10 years ahead were those probably very early on in the business, they were probably just thinking about what the next six months looks like. [00:42:17] So there is always that sort of, you know, there's always that sort of, and I don't think that it's a, I don't think that it's an inherent conflict. I just think that it's a responsibility to be thinking about, well, you know, what do you need to do short term? What do you need the next three, six months and nine months and 12 months to look like, right. [00:42:38] What do you need to build? How do you get the, you know, how do you, how do you build something. You know, short-term get that to scale and, you know, what's the long-term vision of this and are the things that you're doing right now matching up with the long-term vision for the car. [00:43:00] [00:42:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:42:59] It's a lot, it's a huge balancing act, I imagine. And also just a lot, a lot of balls in the air. So you're, you're a juggler on a, on a unicycle. It sounds like and my husband is a clown. He was a clown in the circus. So I know of what I what's, I'm curious about the, how do I put this? You're it's it feels, it really does feel to me like you have a foot in several worlds, like you have the foot in the activist world, but you also have to have a foot in the sort of bottom line, financial interests world. [00:43:29] And. What, where, what is the line there? What, what, when you have to make a decision based on what's best for the company, what's best for the bill for a billion what's best for, you know, the, in your mind, what's best for the planet, the animals, et cetera. Where do you fall? How do you navigate that when you have to make those decisions? [00:43:52] Vikas Garg: [00:43:52] Well, I think that we have a very strong sort of core set of values. Right. And I think it all [00:44:00] starts there. So one of the great things about running a company that's built around values and purpose is it's pretty, it's, it's pretty clear to everybody what you stand for. Right. And you know, it's pretty clear where you stand on a number of different things you know, in terms of right versus wrong in terms of. [00:44:24] You know, do we do the right thing by people? Or do we take like a more sneaky approach? You know, like just generally it does clear up, it clears up a lot of confusion. It clears up, I'd say clears up a lot of stuff that other companies, you know, would have a problem with because at the end of the day, running a company that's based on values and purpose is an extraordinary filtering mechanism for who even comes into the door right now. [00:44:52] Like, you know, and, and that, that also, I mean, I'm not gonna kid you, like, I sit here and lie to you. Like that's not a perfect thing either. [00:45:00] Sometimes you want to have the sort of the very opposite views. You want to have the conflict you want to have as sophisticated people. You want to have, you know, the most successful, but you want to have the best people who are going to help build your growth, you know, your, your growth engine. [00:45:19] You want to have the most successful people, the most experienced people on product. You want to have the most successful people on biz dev. And so sometimes those sort of, as a company that is built around a mission and a company that's built around values, right. As opposed to, Hey, we're just going to build this really fun sort of video sharing app. [00:45:39] Right. And let's just go out and we don't care what kind of content people are posting. We just want to make sure it goes viral and we want to build that. And, you know, and that's it. We want to create this highly addictive app. Well, you can then welcome just about anybody on the planet, into, you know, into that, except for maybe people who are really [00:46:00] values based. [00:46:01] And so the difference is, is we're quite the opposite of that, right? And so I'd say that one of the biggest challenges that we faced in the flat in the first three years is actually scaling our team. So like, we're finally, you know, we finally have gotten to the stage like three years in where, and especially during last year, like we started last year, With eight, seven or eight people on the team full time. [00:46:25] And today we're at 32. Wow. So like it finally, like last year in spite of COVID in spite of everything last year was really the year where we started to grow, where the team started to grow, where, you know, the, the, the, the number of years of experience and the depth of that experience in terms of colleagues, new colleagues signing up joining was, was, just, was, was, was really sort of got, got a big upgrade. [00:46:52]And it's really nice because like, we have a very highly motivated team and a lot of the, a lot of the [00:47:00] folks who may not have as much experience what they lack and experience they make up for in motivation and initiative. But the reality of that is that. What ends up happening is you end up having a lot of debt. [00:47:13] You ended up having a lot of technical debt on your engineering team. You end up building things on a weak foundation. You end up constantly wanting to iterate, but not necessarily having great plans around it. And so we're finally, you know, or you build something wanting to get to a next stage and maybe you get there, but then you're like, what's next? [00:47:36] And you kind of forgot that like, okay, you might get to the next step, but have you thought five steps forward from there? And so like, we're finally getting better at a lot of those things. And you know, that, so being sort of a values-based organization, being an organization that has a very purposeful mission is now actually I'd say in a [00:48:00] way, a breath of fresh air for a lot of people that are kind of coming into the organization and that's something that's been missing in their lives. [00:48:06] Working at other companies, [00:48:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:09] you're singing my song. I love [00:48:11] Vikas Garg: [00:48:11] it. I'm going to, I'm going [00:48:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:12] to apply. That's it. I'm going to do it. Okay. So to be, to be perfectly Frank you know, I don't, I I'm, I feel a little bit like I'm like, yes, everything you just said and, and it feels, it feels just a little disingenuous, even though it's not disingenuous, I really wholeheartedly support your mission because it does feel like it's not a, if you're not being vegan, you're, you're directly responsible for killing animals perspective. [00:48:39] It's more like a, Hey, this is something you can think about. And this is something you can dip your toe in if you will. And yet you y'all are activists all over the place. Right? So one of the things that I love, and this is a, I think maybe a gamified thing that you did is that for every 10 reviews you leave. [00:49:00] [00:49:00] The company will make a donation. And I thought that was so I thought it was cool. I thought it was super cool that I got to choose a sanctuary to get my little $10 donation from having given 10 reviews of, of dishes or whatever it was I did first. So what, what it, what role does that sense of play play in the app? [00:49:25] Vikas Garg: [00:49:25] Yeah, so we started with this whole idea that look, you know, we, we want to create an impact. And we think that there's an opportunity here to build a really great company. And we're a really great technology company, a really great platform. And we, I just felt like, you know, people are signing up, they're going to be contributing information. [00:49:47] That information is valuable. They're going to be spending time in their lives and how do we. How do we enrich that experience and how do we help people kind of connect back this idea, this small idea. [00:50:00] So we'll give you a sense of it. Like 65% of our users today are B eaters. 35% of our users are, are, are, are vegans and vegetarians. [00:50:08] So for the 65% of people, right, I really felt like, what are, what can we do to help kind of. Create that connection. So they've gone and they've eaten something vegan or they've bought something that's environmentally friendly and cruelty-free, it might be, let's say it could be, you know, a vegan beauty product, or it could be you know, like the, a, a bag or, you know, a pair of shoes. [00:50:33]That's, that's made without any animals harmed. And so, you know, they share that experience. They share whatever they purchase on the, on the platform to helping build our community. How do we keep them motivated and how do we gamify it a little bit? And how do we help them see that connection all the way through, with what they're buying with the life that that's impacting. [00:50:55] And so that's how we started was if we could just reinforce this [00:51:00] and really create a daily sort of habit around them, choosing this lifestyle on a more regular basis. And we could game-ify that. And we could do that by connecting them. With really impactful causes around the world. And I know that you had captain Paul Watson on your show recently. [00:51:20]But see shepherd is, is one of the organizations that we support that we are, we are, we are very, very, very honored to be partnered with them. But so for us it was, it really it's been, this is the sense of, okay, how do you help organizations around the world that are creating world-changing life-changing impact? [00:51:38] How do you inspire people and how do you motivate people? You know, to basically keep going to, to keep, to, to, to, to keep trying to live this lifestyle and more regular basis by kind of gamifying it. And at the same time, reinforcing it with, Hey, look, this is the impact that's being created. So, you know, at the time the simplest thing that I could kind of come up with was, Hey, let's [00:52:00] put a little sort of award in people's pockets when they choose vegan. [00:52:03]And we chose that to be a dollar. It's just really simple, right? It's a dollar. And what you can do with this on a dollar that you get, like in an Amazon gift card, or that you could go and spend on something, but it's a dollar that we donate to one of our partner organizations and we have about 65 partners around the world from, you know, ranging from farm animal sanctuaries and places like Argentina, to organizations like sea shepherd, which are really focused on Marine life to, you know, to organizations around the world, activist organizations. [00:52:34]We, for instance, we support all three of the farm animal sanctuary is located in South Africa, do a lot of work in South Africa. And it's really just a global movement. Of course we do a lot of, you know, we have a lot of partners in the U S are closest to you as Woodstock in upstate New York in new Paltz. [00:52:52] And Woodstock's been mowed. Woodstock was one of our earliest partners. So yeah, we've just been, you know, I've just been really focused on, on growing [00:53:00] that way and growing responsibly that way. And it's been amazing. I mean, we've donated over half a million dollars since we first got started to amazing organizations around the world. [00:53:10] We're now supporting children's literacy programs in the developing world. So for a dollar, you can put a girl in school for a day for a dollar. You can buy a local language children's book for, for a kid you know, in, in, in a poor country for a dollar you can plant a tree as part of reforestation projects, In parts of all of pine parts around the world for a dollar, actually, not even for a dollar, but for 80 cents, you go through the United nations world food program and something called share the meal for 80 cents. [00:53:43] You can feed a hungry child, three nutritious meals in a day 80 cents. Wow. Right. So like, we don't even think about 80 cents, right. That doesn't even buy you a pack of gum, but like 80 cents can feed a kid for a whole day. Right. It's an amazing program. [00:54:00] And the funny thing about it, most of the meals are plant-based. [00:54:02] Most of the meals are a hundred percent plant-based right. Whenever possible. So, so this, these are the kinds of organizations that we think are making a real impact in the world. They're nonprofits. We want to support them. And a big part of what we do is really connect that our user journey back with that impact that they can create. [00:54:20] And I'd say that's one of our most unique selling points for the platform is, Hey you know, we're creating impact in this way and we're just always working on how do we make this part of sort of the, the platform better. So you mentioned when you get to 10 posts, you get $10, you get $10 every time we get 10 posts, we're actually just, we just remove that barrier. [00:54:40] So in the latest, in the latest version yeah, because we just felt like, Hey, you know, the reason we did it when we first started this two years ago, it was purely administrative was, you know, I'm literally sitting there and manually making these donations. Right. So is that okay? Well, like [00:55:00] let's, you know, and at the time time, in a given week, we were, we might've made a couple of a hundred dollars, a couple of hundred dollars donations. [00:55:07] Now that number has grown. Now we're doing, you know, we're doing, we're doing like 40, $50,000 a month that we're donating to organizations around the world sometimes more. And It, you know, it was just purely administrative is how do I manage all of this stuff? Manage all these donations and things like that. [00:55:25] As, especially as we scale the number of partners, now we have more than 60. Wow. And so we've gotten better at what we do. We've gotten better at sort of, you know in terms of just building the platform. So this stuff can to some of it's, to some degree, some of it can be more automated and more responsive to the user. [00:55:44]So yeah, we just went live with we just went live with that feature. So it's, you know, for the folks that are listening to the podcast, download the app, take a photo. The next time you go to a restaurant, if you eat something vegan, take a photo of it. It's just like creating an Instagram [00:56:00] post. It takes 30 or 40 seconds. [00:56:02] And pu you know, we'll put a dollar in your account that you can use to create impact. Or if you've got something at home, if you've just opened your fridge. Whether it's a bunch of kale or it's a pack of beyond sausages, or it's your favorite vegan butter from Yoko's or any other brand, take a photo of it and share it. [00:56:23] You're going to help the company because, you know, ultimately that review helps the company. It goes online, it helps get them more customers in a way you're going to help that company. Even if the feedback is bad, you're still gonna help the company. You're gonna help that restaurant. You're gonna help other people discover that option and make the world a little bit more vegan every single time. [00:56:48] And you're going to create impact for a life besides your own. And it's just fun. It's a fun thing to do, taking a photo posting it, you know, and really in a way, [00:57:00] creating impact and logging that on a day-to-day basis. So you have this beautiful sort of. View of all of the wonderful vegan, you know, your whole sort of journey around all of this and whether you're vegan already. [00:57:12] And you're just, you know, using it to record sort of, you know, your, your day-to-day habits and create this kind of impact or, Hey, you know, you want to see and socialize and be part of this community and, and, you know, which is really, really supportive. And we backed that up with this amazing little thing that we do which we think is really awesome. [00:57:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:31] I think it's really awesome too. And there's another benefit that you haven't talked about, which is close to my heart because I'm a writer and that is. That you get to put your writing hat on when you create a review, when you write about it, and you say that something was scrumptious, or you say that it was malicious or that it needed this, or it needed that, or, or this is what you liked about it. [00:57:52] That those review, you know, you say something like, I don't remember if it's 50 words or 50 characters per review on the, on the app. But the point [00:58:00] is that one of the things I love to do is give my I'm a know it all. I admit that. And, but I love giving my opinion. I love giving my review. I review everything I do. [00:58:09] If I go traveling, I review the place, I do a travel guide. If I go to a new restaurant, I take pictures of the food and I review it and I love talking about it. And so one of the things that the app does is give you the opportunity to have your say, to say it in a way that's really fun and creative, but still to give your opinion on, on what you've experienced. [00:58:30] And I think that's a really big positive in what you're [00:58:33] Vikas Garg: [00:58:33] doing. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate you saying that. [00:58:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:58:38] I mean, it's ju it's the truth and take it from me. As I said, I'm a know it all. So I admit that feely there's anybody who's ever met me will go. Yes, she's a know it all. It's okay. So, so I, I am thrilled and I could, I could keep you talking for the next six hours, but I know you have a life to get back to, and you have a daughter who's been knocking on the door and wanting your [00:59:00] attention. [00:59:00] So I, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing how people can find you on social, how people can find the app, and we're going to put it all in the show notes, but I kind of like having it said as well, just because people learn in different ways. [00:59:18] Vikas Garg: [00:59:18] Yeah. Sure. Well, thank you. So the app, it's just called a billion, a B I L L I O N. [00:59:24] And that's exactly who we are. We're trying to build a social movement for a billion people that makes the world a lot more sustainable that, you know, helps animals that helps people around the world that helps people live in a more healthier and more sustainable way in a happier way, in a more mindful way. [00:59:39] So you can download the, a billion app in either app store and Google play, or if you have an iPhone in, in the iPhone and the apple app store it's completely free. And it's completely free to use. And and we do some really fun things in there. There's vouchers from restaurants every now and then there's lots of stuff going around. [00:59:58] You can engage with businesses. [01:00:00] You know, you'll find that a lot of businesses will respond to feedback. A lot of companies are starting to jump on board. We've gotten a few thousand companies to sort of. To jump on board as well. And it just, it's just a great way to sort of record your daily impact and really find a supportive community around that. [01:00:16] So it's called a billion, that's all one word. And we're of course you can also go to our website. It's a billion www.abillion.com where you'll find all of the information there, if you don't like to use apps. And and that's it. And then as far as find finding me, we're also obviously on all socials. [01:00:32] So on Instagram, we're a billion and on Twitter where a billion app I'm on LinkedIn. I think we're just a billion, but yeah, you can find us on LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn. I don't really hang out on platforms like Facebook. I don't have a personal sort of account on, on social media, a billions the only social media app that I actually use besides LinkedIn. [01:00:52] So you can find me on LinkedIn as well and Picasso Garg. V I K S G a R G. And I'm based in [01:01:00] Singapore. So yeah, look out for me. And if you hear the podcast, please connect with me and let me know. I'd love to get your feedback, love to get your thoughts and love to get to know you better. [01:01:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:01:09] Ah, that's awesome. [01:01:10] And you know, we didn't really talk about that mindfulness aspect and now I'm sorry, we didn't, you're going to have to come back again and we're going to have to get into the nitty and the gritty of that, because there's something very powerful about the mindfulness aspect of feeling like you're in balance. [01:01:26] And in fact, if you wouldn't mind talking about that for a second, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what mindfulness is and how it relates to what your, what your mission is. If you don't mind. [01:01:38] Vikas Garg: [01:01:38] Yeah, no, it's fine. You know, I think that living a life full of values and purpose is is, is something that really can drive mindfulness. [01:01:46] I guess if the question is

Today I am chatting with Vikas Garg, who is the Founder & CEO of abillion, a rapidly growing global internet platform on a mission to help a billion people live plant-based by 2030. Abillion aims to change the way people eat and consume whether it be food or fashion or material objects in their lives. Their app not only helps people find plant-based food but also makes a real difference in the availability of that food, as abillion also seeks to encourage restaurants and hotels to become more plant-based. Think: TripAdvisor meets Instagram but for vegans and vegetarians. In 2017, Vikas left his high-flying corporate career at one of the world's largest hedgefunds to pursue this venture as he felt he could do more for society and realised that the world did not need another fund manager, but it needed people to solve interesting problems — and he has not looked back since. Abillion is one of the most well-funded start ups in the Asia Impact scene, closing a pre-Series-A $3 million round in 2020 and attracting high-profile investors like Room To Read's John Wood. Vikas has received Credit Suisse's Global Citizenship Award, is a Young Leader of the Milken Institute, and a Charter Member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs. By the end of this interview, you will gain insight into how to think like a non-profit, you will have an understanding of how to build a sustainable business with a socially-driven mission, and you will feel that you too can build a business that will leave a truly positive mark on the world. In this episode, you will learn about: Why the future is plant-based How to use consumer data for good The power of a mission in driving company growth How to create a sustainable financial model as a social entrepreneur How to pitch your business to investors (and succeed) The Dalai Lama's trick to help you be happier throughout your day And so much more... Resources mentioned in this episode: Seaspiracy Documentary (available on Netflix): https://www.seaspiracy.org/ Download abillion! https://www.abillion.com/ Connect with Vikas: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikas-garg/ Interested in working with abillion? Email miao@abillion.com to see if you are a good fit! Specifically, abillion is looking for software engineers, data scientists, and people who are good with social media, marketing and communication. Connect with Me! On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminarte/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminaellins/ Get yourself some ultra hip streetwear that actually stands for something real — get a 10% discount at lowkeyemotional.com when you use the discount code YAS10 at the checkout!