52 Founders

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How Atlas operates on the ground, and how Mickey, who’s from New York, discovered this opportunity halfway across the globe

-The challenges to building a company in West Africa, and why it was critical that the team lived there when they first were getting started

-Mickey’s childhood growing up in Westchester, and why he originally aspired to become a marine biologist

-His earlier forays into entrepreneurship, including a TV show entitled "The Candidate", and why Mickey ultimately decided to attend law school

-The evolution of Mickey’s founder journey, starting from attending monthly NYC Tech Meetups to meeting with the investment team of Alibaba, and how grit played an integral role in the process

-What’s been the most surprising part of entrepreneurship thus far, and why the benefits ultimately come down to the people you work with and create products for

Check out the end of the (final!) episode, where Mickey shares the best piece of advice he’s ever received, in addition to the startup he loves and the founder he’d most want to interview.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How Andela’s cofounders, Christina and Jeremy Johnson, came together over shared values and vision about the opportunity in Africa

-What it was like pitching to early stage investors, and why it was critical that they accompanied them to Africa to see the magic firsthand

-The company’s headquarters in Lagos and New York, and why both cities have benefitted Andela thus far

-Christina’s father, who emigrated from Germany, and how her parents instilled in her a global mindset from a young age

-Her experience as an educator, starting first as an idealist in Clark County, Georgia then to the West Bank and Southeast China, before finally heading to Nairobi and Kenya

-Christina’s thoughts on the traditional education system, both in and outside of the U.S., and how Andela is fixing it for those who need it most

Be sure to listen through the end, where Christina shares the African startups to watch, and the reason why she’d want to chat with Elon Musk.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How Electric was born from Ryan’s own frustrations with IT in his previous company, and why he was on the look out for hardships during that time

-Why Ryan decided to start his next company in NYC vs SF, where his former company Swarm was headquartered, and the big takeaways he learned from running his past startups

-Ryan’s first childhood career aspiration (which draw chuckles from me) and how filmmaking eventually inspired his interest in entrepreneurship

-How some professional athletes have parlayed their talents into new ventures, and why passion projects are always a great place to start creating

-Ryan’s reasoning for attending college after already having success in his late teens, and how he views education during the hiring process

-The qualities that make for a great hire at Electric, and why persistence is hands down the best attribute an entrepreneur can have

Listen as Ryan shares a New York startup he really loves (so much so that he personally invested), in addition to the “founder” he’d most want to interview and why.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-The autonomous vehicle stack, and why companies aren’t building everything in house

-Why Carmera decided to build its headquarters in New York versus the Bay, and the benefits of doing so

-The entrepreneurial genes that run in Ro’s family, and why his parents ended up leaving India to come to the States

-When Ro started thinking about entrepreneurship as a viable career option, and how it relates to the immigrant mentality

-The differences between operating at an early stage startup versus creating your own, and the unrelenting stress that comes with the latter (even when the -cause is good)

-How the CEO of a startup should think about allocating his or her time, and why working smarter is a must

Be sure to check out Ro’s picks for his favorite NYC startup, in addition to the operator he’d most want to interview.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How Loftium was inspired by Yifan’s own experience when she and her husband moved to Seattle and started renting out a spare bedroom

-The new market Loftium has created for home buyers, and the company’s initial traction since its recent launch

-The pros and cons to growing a real estate, and fintech, focused start up in Seattle

-Yifan’s parents' emigration from China, and her memories of when they purchased their first home

-What Yifan’s first venture, Pact, taught her about motivating users, why she decided to recently shut it down, and what she plans on doing differently this time around

-The skills Yifan learned from going through Techstars with Pact, and why she decided not to go through it again with Loftium

Catch the end of the show, where Yifan shares the Seattle startup she loves, and the founder she’d most want to interview (it’s a new one)!

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How May’s travels to Asia while living in Abu Dhabi inspired the creation of Qordoba, in addition to growing up as a non-native English speaker

-Why the company is named after the historic Spanish city Cordoba during the time of the Enlightenment, and examples of how language has continually unified people

-How being the oldest of eight children prepared May for being a CEO and allowed her to embrace her feminine leadership traits

-Moving from Lebanon to Canada with her family at the age of five, and how her parents’ entrepreneurial behavior became second nature to May

-How seeing the hard aspects of her father’s venture taught May some of the most important tenants of business

-How May inspires loyalty at Qordoba among her employees, and how having an international team creates empathy

At the end May shares the San Francisco startup she loves (and uses at Qordoba) and the founder she most wants to interview (hint: he’s one that crops up a lot on this show).

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-Rebecca’s time spent living in Lima, Peru working with female entrepreneurs, and why she left to go to Kellogg School of Management

-How Rebecca’s friends’ experiences with “mom guilt” inspired the idea for Wise Apple

-Why Wise Apple chose to go after the consumer segment of the problem rather than the B2B side (i.e. school supplied lunches)

-Rebecca’s take on why Chicago is a great place to disrupt older industries, and her views on overall startup community (as a Chicago native)

-How Rebecca fought her way into her elementary school’s gifted program herself after she was initially passed over (as an 8 year old!)

-The importance of learning great from a young age, and how you can continue to grow even as you get older

Check out Rebecca’s pick for her favorite Chicago startup and the top people she would want to interview if given the chance (hint: one has already been interviewed on this show).

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-The story behind ShieldPay’s origin, and why the company isn’t targeting the friends and family transaction space

-How many UK startups use the country as a testing ground for ideas before scaling out into alternative markets such as the U.S.

-Why Pete decided to enter the Techstars Barclays accelerator, even though he -already was a serial founder

-How aspirations to play professional rugby eventually led Pete to a career in media, and later, his first startup venture

-Why raising too much capital can kill a startup, and what to consider when accepting venture funding

-How playing sports for the majority of his life instilled in Pete the importance of diversity on teams

At the end, Pete shares another London startup he’s a big fan of, in addition to the entrepreneur he’d most want to interview (hint: he’s also from the UK).

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How the Pioneer Square Labs model works, and why the team views the people that eventually run the company as the true founders

-What qualities PSL looks for in these founders, and why domain knowledge is key

-The startup ecosystem in Seattle, and why the big tech incumbents are largely to thank for it

-How Taunt currently operates, and the future monetization strategy the company sees playing out

-How Startup Weekend played a pivotal role in both Ben and his father’s careers

-Ben’s advice to budding entrepreneurs about working for a large tech company before starting something of your own

-Why accountability is critical to having a great career, and the best thing Ben’s ever read on the topic

Check out Ben’s Seattle startup pick (outside of PSL companies) at the end of the episode, in addition to hearing us both geek out about Amazon.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

-How Tovala controls the entire end-to-end experience of each meal, from sourcing the ingredients to creating unique recipes with its in-house chefs

-David’s background in the food industry, and how he found himself creating Tovala shortly after arriving at Chicago Booth

-How the advice David received from the founders of Airbnb helped him go after such a bold idea

-The decision to go through Y Combinator after winning Booth’s New Venture Challenge, and how it gave the Tovala team an excuse to focus on nothing but the business for a few months

-The benefits to growing an IoT startup in the Midwest, and how it has allowed Tovala to rapidly scale

-How David’s parents, who are both Iranian immigrants, molded his ideas on entrepreneurship and healthy eating

Catch the end of the show, where David shares another Chicago startup he’s a fan of and the founder he’s most keen to interview.

P.S. Thanks to 52 Founders alumn Kevin Marvinac for the intro!