Podcasts about founders project

After five seasons, sometimes a rebrand is in order. Join host and repeat entrepreneur Alex Von Tobel for a new season of podcasts with a new title: What was The Founders Project is now For Starters with Alexa von Tobel. You can expect the same deep-dive into the journey of being a founder, from future insights to "pinch me" moments to big wins. Join us each Wednesday. New episodes start on April 4. And if you haven't already, subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. See you there!

Today's guest, Alexa Von Tobel is the founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital - a VC fund she started with former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping people make progress on their money. After raising nearly $75 million in venture capital, LearnVest was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 in one of the biggest fintech acquisitions of the decade. Following the acquisition, von Tobel joined the management team of Northwestern Mutual as the company's first-ever Chief Digital Officer. She later assumed the role of Chief Innovation Officer through which she oversaw Northwestern Mutual's venture arm. Alexa, who holds a Certified Financial Planner™ designation, is the New York Times-bestselling author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. She is also the host of The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel, a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights top entrepreneurs. Alexa is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and an inaugural member of President Obama's Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. She has been honored with numerous recognitions including a Forbes Magazine cover story, Fortune's 40 Under 40, Fortune's Most Powerful Women, Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30, and World Economic Forum's Young Global Leader. We know listeners will love getting to know Alexa in today's episode! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/howdshedothat/support

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alexa von Tobel, Co-Founder / Managing Partner at Inspired Capital, an early-stage VC based in New York City, with over $500M in Assets Under Management. The firm was founded by Alexa and Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and has backed some outstanding fintech companies, including Finix, Rho, Habi, Orum, Public, and Kamino.In this episode, we discuss:Alexa's background & entrepreneurial adventures and why she dropped out of Harvard Business School to build LearnVest, which she then sold for $375 million. Lessons learned in the last three years since launching Inspired and their process to look for an find exceptional founders with relentless determination.The reasons why Alexa is excited about the impact of fintech internationally, especially in places like Latin America.And why she loves hosting her own podcast, Inc. Founders Project, where she's interviewed 150+ incredible founders and what she's learned from them.Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join  32,000+ readers around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Alexa von Tobel, founder and managing partner at Inspired Capital, shares how she built her first startup LearnVest at 23 and later co-founded Inspired Capital to improve access to startup capital. Alexa looks for tenacious and highly committed founders with an ‘always be learning' attitude.In this episode, you'll learn:[3:55] Did dropping out of Harvard Business School to start a company in the middle of a global financial crisis pay off?[11:23] How Alexa's entrepreneurial experience fueled her desire to make capital more accessible to founders[13:57] How can entrepreneurs hone their brand narrative to thrive in the future of the fundraising world?[18:33] What's an Inspired company, identifying the founder's WHY and their ‘Tsunami'Non-profit that Alexa is passionate about: Every Mother CountsAbout Alexa von TobelAlexa von Tobel is the Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital. Alexa is a successful entrepreneur who started LearnVest, a fintech company that raised nearly $75 million in venture capital before it was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in 2015. She is a Certified Financial Planner™ and New York Times-bestselling author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. She also hosts The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel, a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights top entrepreneurs.About Inspired CapitalInspired Capital is a New York City-based, women-led venture capital firm that invests in exceptional founders and seed to Series-A startups with strong underlying technology and category-defining visions. Inspired Capital's portfolio includes Finix, Habi, Chief, Orum, Canvas, Rho, DANDY, Lean Financial, Teamshare, and Skythe. Prior to founding Inspired, Alexa and her business partners have built a long track record of both professional and angel investments in standout companies, including Uber, Chime, and Airtable.Next Week's EpisodeComing up next week in Episode 69, we have a special guest, Jacob Haar, Founder and Managing Partner of Community Investment Management, who will talk about debt capital and its impact on financial inclusion.Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode that will drop next Tuesday.Follow us: Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook

This week, we chat with Jaime Schmidt who is the entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products that she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon in 2010. Jaime is known for modernizing natural personal care products, including the customer-favorite deodorant, and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under her leadership, Schmidt's grew into a household name lining the shelves of retailers including Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart and CVS across 30 countries. In 2017, Schmidt's partnered with CPG giant Unilever, with Jaime continuing as the brand's founder.Jaime is the co-founder of Color, an investment portfolio that specializes in the consumer product industry, retail and ecommerce, brand positioning, and M&A. She is the author of “Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms,” a personalized guide on how to put your business on the map, turning your passion into profit.She is regularly profiled in prominent press including Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes and Fast Company. Jaime is an inaugural member of the Inc. Founders Project and has also been recognized as 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, PNW Entrepreneur of the Year, Women of Influence and Executive of the Year.Follow us!Jaime: @jaimeschmidt (and on Fireside here)Schmidt's Naturals: @schmidtsnaturalsColor: @colorinvestsGoing Public: @goingpublicDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething (and on Fireside here)

Stephen Hamilton joins Studio Noize to talk about his amazing mixed-media series The Founders Project. Stephen had the honor of visiting Africa and learning traditional art techniques from masters in weaving and carving. We talk about the difference between cultural understanding and imitation, the value of telling stories outside the colonial narrative, and what it means to know your history. Plus we discuss the rich history behind the heroes of his Founders Project. You gon' learn something today on the Noize!Stephen Hamilton is an artist and arts educator living and working in Boston Massachusetts.Stephen's Work incorporates both Western and African techniques, blending figurative painting and drawing with resist-dyeing, weaving, and woodcarving. Each image is a marriage between the aesthetic perspectives and artistry of both traditions. As a Black American trained in traditional west African art forms, he treats the acts of weaving, dyeing, and woodcarving as ritualized acts of reclamation. he uses traditional techniques and materials native to West Africa to reclaim ancestral knowledge dissociated from Africans in the Americas, during the transatlantic slave trade. The work explores and heavily references the Black body in pre-colonial African art history, creating visual connections between the past and the present. This forms a body of work, which serves as a conceptual and visual bridge between the ancient and modern worlds. Through this, he explores elements of black identity through time and space on its own terms.Through visual comparison of shared philosophies and aesthetics amongst Black peoples, he seeks to describe a complex and varied Black aesthetic. These visual and philosophical connections and cultural analyses form his visual language. The pieces created depict African thought and culture as equal to, yet unique from, its western analog. This work stands in stark contrast to the pervasive negative associations, which have become synonymous with Black culture. his work, therefore, bridges dialogue between contemporary Black cultures and the ancient African world through an asset-based lens. See more: www.itanproject.com + @theartofstephenhamiltonFollow us:StudioNoizePodcast.comIG: @studionoizepodcastJamaal Barber: @JBarberStudioSupport the podcast www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Megan Eddings is the founder and CEO of Accel Lifestyle, the first socially conscious and fashionable fitness apparel brand. While Eddings' revolutionary Prema® antibacterial fabric was originally created to fight odor in fitness apparel, it first and foremost fights bacteria. With her background in chemistry from the University of Virginia, she invented Prema® and it is now patent pending in 120 countries. From fitness apparel to a PPE provider, Eddings is proud to make every day a healthy day, promoting wellness, confidence, and kindness. Accel Lifestyle was one of the first companies in the USA to start making face masks back in March of 2020. Her vision, risk-taking, game-changing attitude caught the attention of the US Military and her company was added to the US Military contract 2 years ahead of when companies are normally approved. She went from winning 1st place and $10,000 in her first business pitch competition (2 years before she launched Accel Lifestyle) to a 7-figure revenue in 2020. Eddings is now the CEO of 3 separate companies: Accel Lifestyle, Blended Huemanity and Accel Unite. She was chosen as one of Inc. Magazine's top Founders: chosen as Top 3 Startups in the country and one of 40 Founders chosen for Inc. Magazine's Founders Project. Eddings even has a day (May 24th) named after her in Houston TX, for her philanthropy work. She has a passion for giving back and the bigger her companies get, the more she can give back and inspire others to do the same. She believes in thinking Big….and then, thinking BIGGER. On a mission to bring joy wherever she goes, Eddings strives to help everyone feel more confident. We only get one life, just go for it! https://www.accellifestyle.com/pages/ethicallymade

Miguel Armaza sits down with the talented and energetic Alexa von Tobel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Inspired Capital, a $200M early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City, focused on backing founders with transformative ideas, brilliant teams, and relentless determination. The firm was founded by Alexa and Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest with the goal of helping people make progress on their money and later sold the company to Northwestern Mutual for $375M. We talked about - Alexa’s background & entrepreneurial journey - Why she dropped out of Harvard Business school to build LearnVest - What it really means to be the CEO of a large company and why she decided to sell her business - The reason why she loves hosting her own podcast, The Founders Project, and what led her to write two books - Working with President Obama - The importance of having a supportive spouse - And a whole lot more! Alexa von Tobel Alexa is the co-founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital. Prior to Inspired Capital, she founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping people make progress on their money. After raising nearly $75 million in venture capital, LearnVest was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 in one of the biggest fintech acquisitions of the decade. Following the acquisition, von Tobel joined the management team of Northwestern Mutual as the company’s first-ever Chief Digital Officer. She later assumed the role of Chief Innovation Officer through which she oversaw Northwestern Mutual’s venture arm. Alexa, who holds a Certified Financial Planner™ designation, is the New York Times-Bestselling Author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. She is also the host of The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel, a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights top entrepreneurs. Alexa is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and an inaugural member of President Obama’s Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. She has been honored with numerous recognitions including: a Forbes Magazine cover story, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, Fortune's Most Powerful Women, Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30, and World Economic Forum's Young Global Leader. Originally from Florida, Alexa attended Harvard College and Harvard Business School before settling in New York City where she currently resides with her husband, Cliff, and three children, Toby, Cashel, and Rosey. About Inspired Capital Inspired Capital is a $200M early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. Inspired backs founders with transformative ideas, brilliant teams, and relentless determination. The firm was founded by Alexa von Tobel, who previously founded LearnVest, and Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Partners who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. By leveraging deep experience across consumer and enterprise technology, the firm invests in tech-advantaged, capital efficient businesses, striving to help them become category-defining companies. For more information, visit www.inspiredcapital.com.

Stephen Hamilton joins Studio Noize to talk about his amazing mixed-media series The Founders Project. Stephen had the honor of visiting Africa and learning traditional art techniques from masters in weaving and carving. We talk about the difference between cultural understanding and imitation, the value of telling stories outside the colonial narrative, and what it means to know your history. Plus we discuss the rich history behind the heroes of his Founders Project. You gon’ learn something today on the Noize!Stephen Hamilton is an artist and arts educator living and working in Boston Massachusetts.Stephen’s Work incorporates both Western and African techniques, blending figurative painting and drawing with resist dyeing, weaving, and woodcarving. Each image is a marriage between the aesthetic perspectives and artistry of both traditions. As a Black American trained in traditional west African artforms, he treats the acts of weaving, dyeing, and woodcarving as ritualized acts of reclamation. he uses traditional techniques and materials native to West Africa to reclaim ancestral knowledge dissociated from Africans in the Americas, during the transatlantic slave trade. The work explores and heavily references the Black body in pre-colonial African art history, creating visual connections between the past and the present. This forms a body of work, which serves as a conceptual and visual bridge between the ancient and modern worlds. Through this, he explores elements of black identity through time and space on its own terms.Through visual comparison of shared philosophies and aesthetics amongst Black peoples, he seeks to describe a complex and varied Black aesthetic. These visual and philosophical connections and cultural analyses form his visual language. The pieces created depict African thought and culture as equal to, yet unique from, its western analog. This work stands in stark contrast to the pervasive negative associations, which have become synonymous with Black culture. his work, therefore, bridges dialogue between contemporary Black cultures and the ancient African world through an asset-based lens. See more: http://www.itanproject.com + @theartofstephenhamilton Episode Transcript Follow us:StudioNoizePodcast.comJamaal Barber: @JBarberStudioCheck out our sponsor National Black Arts at nbaf.org/

Entrepreneurship isn’t easy. That’s something that Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals knows all too well. Jaime is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who after partnering her business with Unilever, went on to start another company and an investment fund to support other founders. Jaime bootstrapped her business for many years and in this episode, she shares the lessons she learned along the way, her biggest pain points and what kept her going. She talks about the importance to her of staying grounded and being aligned with what she does. She also gives us the inside scoop on her new book, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms. What’s in this episode: What it means for Jaime to craft a life she loves Why she decided to move and make a change How she continued to explore and search for her passion  Her turning point where she realized her personal care products could be a big business How Jaime felt going through the process of taking her business to the next level The progression of her company growing through word of mouth Pain points she reached as she grew her business What kept her going as an entrepreneur Why she wanted to build her brand without taking on investors Her experience of getting approached by companies to sell Schmidt’s Naturals What made her decide to partner with another company Why she started her business, Supermaker The most common pain points she see’s female entrepreneurs going through How she stays grounded and aligned with her values Her non-negotiables for her daily life How she bases her decisions on what’s best for herself and her family Why she started an investment fund to help support other founders    About Jaime:Jaime Schmidt is an entrepreneur and the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, a brand of natural personal care products that she started in her kitchen in Portland, Oregon in 2010. Jaime is known for modernizing natural personal care products, including the customer-favorite deodorant, and bringing them to the mainstream market. Under her leadership, Schmidt’s grew into a household name lining the shelves of retailers including Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart and CVS across 30 countries. In 2017, Schmidt’s partnered with CPG giant Unilever, with Jaime continuing as the brand’s founder and spokesperson. Today, Jaime is focusing her efforts on helping emerging entrepreneurs pursue their own dreams. In June 2019, Jaime launched Supermaker, an editorial-driven platform that celebrates diverse, independent brands and creators, and hosts conversations that empower progressive values in the workplace. She has also authored the book Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, releasing April 2020 in partnership with Chronicle Books. Additionally, Jaime is the co-founder of Color, an investment portfolio that supports diverse and underrepresented founders, and co-owner of local entrepreneurial collective Portland Made. She is regularly profiled in prominent business media including Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes and Fast Company. Jaime is an inaugural member of the Inc. Founders Project and has also been recognized as 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs (Goldman Sachs, 2017 & 2018), PNW Entrepreneur of the Year (Ernst & Young, 2017), Inc.’s Female Founders 100, and the Create & Cultivate 100.   Connect With Jaime:Website | Instagram | Twitter Links:Supermaker Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms by Jaime Schmidt Hope you’ve enjoyed this episode! Would love to hear from you. What is one thing you can do with the wisdom and guidance you’ve extracted from this episode to make a positive and lasting change in your own life? Connect with me on social media. You can find me @amytangerine on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and pretty much anywhere. If you’re enjoying this podcast, please rate and review on iTunes, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and let your friends know about it too! The more we spread the creativity and happiness that comes from pursuing our passions, the better off our amazing community will be. Hope you feel uplifted, energized and inspired.

Alexa von Tobel is the founder of LearnVest, a personal finance company that made financial planning affordable and accessible for everyone, which was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in 2015 for $375 million.She’s now the founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the next wave of tech entrepreneurs.In this episode, we chat with Alexa about her early life and college days, dropping out of Harvard Business School to launch LearnVest in the middle of a recession, what has helped her become a better leader of people, her thoughts on the current venture capital climate and what she’s most excited about as far as the future goes, and much more.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER & STAY UPDATED > http://bit.ly/tfh-newsletterFOLLOW TFH ON INSTAGRAM > http://www.instagram.com/thefounderhourFOLLOW TFH ON TWITTER > http://www.twitter.com/thefounderhourINTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR? EMAIL US > partnerships@thefounderhour.com

How good are you at talking about the hard things? How comfortable are you with the discomfort of facing your pain and using it as your greatest teacher? With 12 years of expertise in psychology, Cherry Rose has guided thousands through the trenches of mental health. A fifth-generation entrepreneur, her superpower is helping leaders talk about the really hard things, so they can lead powerfully at home and at work. A mentor for the Inc. Founders Project, she coaches CEOs on emotional resilience and psychological safety. As the CEO of #realtalk, the mental health movement for the tech industry, she is shedding a light on tech's darkest secrets. With 70+ champions across North America, tech CEOs share their mental health stories on her Top 14 Business podcast on iTunes. A mental health authority, she has been featured in Forbes, Inc., and more. She teaches at the Schulich School of Business. Today's guest Cherry Rose Tan is more than willing to work through pain to find the lessons that lead her to be the greatest version of herself. You will be inspired by her story, blown away by her insights and have a new relationship with your pain as your greatest source of healing after you listen to today's episode. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/themorninglightshow/support

Episode SummaryMost people look at the life of the entrepreneur and think, they've got it made. You're your own boss, you call the shots, you're making money, what a great life. But, the reality is very different. Incredible stress, ultra-long hours, doubts about everything that can never be shared with anyone else, and sometimes much worse. Even with a long lineage of entrepreneurs behind her, start-up founder Cherry Rose Tan found herself underestimating how tough and personal the start-up journey would be. Drawing on her own personal and professional experience, Cherry Rose is creating a mental health movement in entrepreneurship and her podcast #realtalk is helping others create solid emotional foundations for success. She talks about the stuff no one is saying out loud, and she's making a difference. Syd and Cherry Rose dig deep into the emotional world of the entrepreneur, in this episode of The Sydcast.Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein's research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. Cherry Rose TanWith twelve years of expertise in psychology, Cherry Rose has guided thousands through the trenches of mental health. A fifth-generation entrepreneur, her superpower is helping leaders talk about the really hard things, so they can lead powerfully at home and at work. A mentor for the Inc. Founders Project, she coaches CEOs on emotional resilience and psychological safety. As the CEO of #realtalk, the mental health movement for the tech industry, she is shedding a light on tech's darkest secrets. With 70+ champions across North America, tech CEOs share their mental health stories on her Top 14 Business podcast on iTunes. A mental health authority, she has been featured in Forbes, Inc., and more. She teaches at the Schulich School of Business.Insights from this episode:Reasons why entrepreneurs suffer from higher rates of depression and other instances of mental illness.The secret skill key to being a good and effective leader and how you can train yourself in that skill.Benefits of emotional management on mental health. Strategies for dealing with the leadership and power systems currently in place around us to increase our emotional capacity and create a space for healing.How to share difficult or painful experiences with others to help normalize conversations about mental health.Quotes from the show:“When I got into entrepreneurship it was really a lot tougher than I thought.” – Cherry Rose Tan“It's so important for a leader to be a great listener. It's an old story, everybody talks about it, very few are all that great at it in my experience.” – Syd Finkelstein“You can not outsource the ability to listen effectively, you've got to do it as a leader.” – Syd Finkelstein“When people are going through those [painful] things it's so important for us to be in a space where we can actually be with the pain.” – Cherry Rose Tan“I know we talk about the pandemic in terms of COVID, but there's also a second pandemic in the sense of what's happening with mental health and I mean it very seriously.” – Cherry Rose Tan“Emotional management is one of the most important skills that we could possibly have because the way that we relate to our emotions completely affects how we show up as a leader.” – Cherry Rose TanOn sharing emotional, personal stories: “I think we'd be healthier if somehow we could share some of those stories with others. We put on a mask, don't we.” – Syd Finkelstein“One of the best risk mitigation tools is actually listening because when you listen and you can observe you can actually see the warning signs early.” – Cherry Rose Tan“I'm the kind of person that gets really excited about creating solutions, especially at the systems level and creating solutions to problems that I know are ready-coming.” – Cherry Rose TanOn the process of starting a business: “My fascination is why haven't we thought about tracking the mental health conditions that occur across the stages.” – Cherry Rose TanStay Connected: Syd FinkelsteinWebsite: http://thesydcast.comLinkedIn: Sydney FinkelsteinTwitter: @sydfinkelsteinFacebook: The SydcastInstagram: The SydcastCherry Rose TanPodcast: #realtalk with Cherry Rose TanPodcast: #realtalk movement [for the tech industry]Book: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. RosenbergSubscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Ayush Bharti (MBA '14) graduated with an ambitious goal. Having lost family to medical negligence, he wanted to improve the healthcare system in his native India. Now with his health tech startup OurHealthMate, a technology platform that connects patients providers and payers in developing economies, he's doing just that all across India and beyond. In this episode of the Darden Founders Project, Ayuish reflects on The Darden experience, Darden faculty, his stint in Darden's i.Lab and the vital importance of a good laugh.

If you enjoy When to Jump, you'll love this new podcast from Inc. called the Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel. You'll hear from top technology entrepreneurs who'll give you the knowledge, tools, and inspiration needed to build a company that thrives. Listen to this episode with Susan Tynan, founder of Framebridge, on how she went from working in government to tech. Subscribe to Inc. Founders Project wherever you listen to podcasts. 

When Scott Kim (MBA ’11) was undergoing grueling and lengthy rehabilitation after childhood surgery for spina bifida, little did he know that years later he’d be heading Neofect, a med-tech startup that brings game-based physiotherapy to millions of patients worldwide. What launched Kim on an entrepreneurial career path was a class taught by Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy and a serendipitous encounter with a fellow Korean-born Darden student Hoyoung Ban, whose family members had struggled with stroke recovery. Inspired by Sarasvathy, Kim and Ban set out to revolutionize what they saw as an archaic approach to physiotherapy. In 2010, they launched Neofect, which has since raised $17 million in a Korean IPO. Hear how Neofect built a global market for engaging computer games, which combine artificial intelligence and virtual reality to help stroke survivors and people with spinal cord injuries recover.

Nick Moran (MBA ’08) cut his teeth sourcing and vetting promising technologies while working on mergers and acquisitions at Danaher Corporation. He also developed one of the most successful products in Danaher’s history—an IoT solution with an innovative method for testing compounds in drinking water. Hear how Moran became a successful angel investor and venture capitalist, with a little help from a popular VC podcast The Full Ratchet, which he launched in 2014.

After three years in a corporate finance leadership program at Johnson & Johnson, Erik Breuhaus (MBA '14) knew that he wanted to work at a startup. He joined one while he was a second-year student at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and he never looked back. Hear how his experience at multiple startups in a variety of industries, where he handled finance, operations, business development, recruiting and marketing, prepared Breuhaus for his role as co-founder and CFO of cybersecurity company CounterFlow AI.

This is a special recording all the way from the South by South West Festival in Austin where I interview AJ Hassan, the VP Executive Creative Director at R/GA Chicago. In this interview, I uncover the stories behind her success. We talk about a multitude of things including the inspiration behind the Always 'LikeAGirl' campaign, the importance of giving a meaningful value to a brand and why female creatives bring such a great balance to the creative departments. Thank you to Inc Magazine who hosted me at their Founders House. The house was the first live event of the Founders Project, a multi-platform initiative in which Inc. and partners combine to inspire and guide entrepreneurs to be the next wave of innovators. You can check them out here: https://foundersproject.inc.com/

Inc. staffers discuss why some companies are inventing ridiculous job titles, and the app that’s become a secret weapon for college sports teams. Plus, special guest Alexa Von Tobel discusses Inc.’s new Founders’ Project.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices