Capital Calling

Right now, Africa’s population is soaring, with the continent expected to house over a quarter of the world’s people by 2050. With African nations being some of the only countries globally to experience venture capital growth last year, the opportunity for the expansion of technology and entrepreneurship in the region is boundless.

This week’s guest is Martins Udotai, Co-Founder of Dinesurf - a restaurant management and reservation booking platform active in thirteen African nations. Users spread the word about Dinesurf immediately after launch, reaching the first $500,000 in gross market value through solely word of mouth.

In this episode, Martins tells us how he has built Dinesurf and dissects the African tech and venture capital landscape. Martins is a leader in representing the forthcoming African tech boom on the international stage, appearing on CNBC Africa and being featured by Vanguard. 

This episode is not one you should leave behind: the market for technological progress in the African continent is immense, and our Western media does not cover perspectives like Martins’ very often. From marketplace expansion tactics to exposure to the funding difficulties faced by entrepreneurs on an entire continent, we are grateful to share Martins’ perspective on our show. https://dinesurf.com/

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Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

Despite their delusional self-confidence in their ability to succeed in their side hustles and all of the TikTok investors in their ears, there is a problem with money culture for Gen Z: they don’t talk about their finances. And when you’ve never heard how you should manage your money, you will be left behind.

Enter Katrin Kaurov and Aleksandra Medina, Co-Founders of Frich: a social finance iPhone app for Gen Z that they have grown to over 250,000 users. Frich stands for, well, f**king rich, because they aim to put Gen Z on track to reaching their financial goals.

In this episode, Katrin and Aleksandra discuss how they built Frich from the ground up by utilizing their own observations on their generation’s taboos surrounding money. Katrin speaks of her own experiences in managing her finances while traveling the world as a runway model. She met Aleksandra at NYU Abu Dhabi, and the rest is history.

With a $2.8 million seed fundraising round banked this year, they’re ready to transform the financial status of students on college campuses and beyond. If you’re seeking to build out your initial user base for your mobile app or learn the Gen Z-native perspective on finances, this episode is for you. https://www.getfrich.com/ 

Timestamps:

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective⁠

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter: https://coeuscollective.beehiiv.com/

Get more insights and interviews on all socials ⁠@CoeusCollective⁠

Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

Gaming has taken over the apex position in the entertainment industry, with global annual gaming revenues now higher than the movie and music industries combined. Michael Sacco, Founder of OccaSoftware, empowers indie game developers not only to make their dream games a reality, but also to help them reach a mass market of players.

Michael grew his indie game digital asset marketplace to 40,000 developers in only four months. He used his background as a Senior Product Manager at American Express to turn his passion for gaming into a full-fledged marketplace that also functions as a community for the next generation of game developers.

Michael describes his favorite indie games and tells us why indie games are special and need to be nurtured. After speaking with Michael, we’re convinced that the next generation of great games and franchises will stem from indie games. And we’re convinced that Michael and OccaSoftware will lead the charge to provide developers with the tools they need to succeed. https://www.occasoftware.com/ 

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective⁠

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/coeusnewsletter⁠

Get more insights and interviews on all socials ⁠@CoeusCollective⁠

Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

There is only one thing that all humans, globally, do every day: sleep. Sleep makes up one-third of our day, and therefore one-third of our lives. Dr. Dan Gartenberg, Founder of SleepSpace and a renowned scientist whose TED Talk “The Brain Benefits of Deep Sleep” has garnered over 5 million views, has devoted his life to building technologies that improve sleep.

This episode goes far beyond the typical advice of “get your eight hours.” Dan told us that “you can definitely zap the brain” to improve your sleep, so we discussed a wide variety of ways that you can hack your sleep, including advice on distinct sleep environment choices, the use of sound to optimize deep sleep, and even his patent on dream capture technology. (Yes, the type of technology used in the film Inception!)

Dr. Gartenberg is bringing science fiction to life in his work, bridging the gap between cutting-edge scientific research and marketable consumer technologies. In this episode, we also discussed how he has raised $3.5 million, and how he balances his leadership in research while also leading SleepSpace. Dan provides distinct advice for those in the fields of scientific research who are seeking to reach beyond their labs to build a company.

Dr. Dan is full of unique takes on the state of society and sleep, so you won’t want to miss this episode. If you feel like you’re sleeping worse than ever before right now, you’re probably right, and Dr. Dan will explain why. 

You’ll leave the podcast informed on the secret science behind how you can get the best sleep of your life, and we’re confident you’ll never feel the same about sleep after listening to this episode. https://sleepspace.com/ 

SPECIAL PROMOTION:

SleepSpace is offering a thirty-day free trial to all Coeus Collective listeners. Visit the following link to access your trial: https://sleepspace.com/coeus-promo/ 

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective⁠

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/coeusnewsletter⁠

Get more insights and interviews on all socials @CoeusCollective⁠

Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

How would you raise $25K for your Kickstarter campaign? Odds are, you would organize your entire life around this goal for the time that your campaign is active. With a time limit to raise your goal, the Kickstarter experience is one of pressure and intensity.

Enter Anja Westhues, Founder of Endure Sport Nutrition, a company seeking to provide athletes with whole food based nutrition to fuel before, during, and after training sessions. So with a demanding physical product business that includes ingredient, taste, and nutritional testing, you would think Anja spent her 60 day timeframe with her Kickstarter campaign in sole focus, right?

Wrong. Anja accomplished her raise of $25k while being in college and employed with multiple jobs and internships. And Anja didn’t cut any corners in her commitment to her business and formulation of her product.

In this episode, Anja shares her feelings about choosing to be an entrepreneur in college, highlighting the complex choices she had to make regarding her social and professional lifestyles to support her business. She details how she has aimed to build Endure’s community through interacting with run clubs, and gives her take on the future of Gen Z’s unprecedented commitment to leading a healthier and active lifestyle. She also discusses Endure’s unique product formulation, which includes cricket protein!

Anja is a tour de force of knowledge in time management, initial product creation, and community building, and you won’t want to miss this episode if you’re considering starting a business in college or curious on what it takes to start a business in college today. https://enduresportnutrition.com/

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube:

⁠https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective⁠

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/coeusnewsletter⁠

Get more insights and interviews on all socials ⁠@CoeusCollective⁠

Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

With $95 million worth of experiences booked on their platform, POSH is transforming the future of socializing. Placing a distinct pulse on Gen Z culture at the forefront of their brand, the company has 2 million users and has raised $31 million, announcing a $22 million Series A in July.

POSH Co-Founder Eli Taylor-Lemire said in our interview that he thinks “the essence of entrepreneurship is that it’s bred from hard times.” This philosophy drove POSH Co-Founders Eli and Avante Price to build out POSH during the COVID pandemic. And as seen in their statistics, the results since then are startling. 

In this episode, NYU dropouts Avante and Eli share the specific steps they took to develop the POSH app and the community surrounding it, which was labeled by TechCrunch as “TikTok for small events.” Avante and Eli’s provocative insights into the philosophy behind Gen Z’s desire for unique “in-real-life” experiences should not be missed. Listen to this episode to get in on the POSH story early: with POSH events already being held on six continents, the sky is the limit for their movement. https://posh.vip/ 

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective⁠

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/coeusnewsletter⁠

Get more insights and interviews on all socials ⁠@CoeusCollective⁠

Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

Seeking to globalize the world of content creation and entertainment, Deeptune co-founder Tim Lupo (2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Social Media) has a firm belief that “we’ll look back on entertainment today the way we look at entertainment in the 1920s.” 

His company Deeptune is making striking progress to ensure this prediction becomes a reality. With $3.1 million in seed funding from investors including VaynerMedia CEO, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Reddit Co-Founder, Alexis Ohanian, Deeptune is set to revolutionize the content creation space with their AI-powered dubbing software. 

In this episode, Tim started by telling us about how he and his co-founder first met as the first employees at Hebbia ($130M Series B led by a16z). He dove into the Deeptune origin story before discussing the massive impact his company is set to have on both individual content creators and large entertainment studios. Tim stated, “I think everyone in this industry knows that our vision of how this will work is how it will work in 5-10 years,” so listen now to hear this vision for yourself. https://deeptune.com/ 

Timestamps:

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective⁠

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/coeusnewsletter⁠

Get more insights and interviews on all socials ⁠@CoeusCollective⁠

Music from this Episode by ⁠Houis⁠

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY

Arête co-founder Kotryna Jukneviciute began her career as a Defense Analyst seeking to save the world from nuclear war. After a decorated early career in international affairs, she decided to build a new career revolving around her passion for fashion. In this episode, Kotryna told us about how she and her co-founder have built Arête, a new app providing AI-powered styling recommendations and an in-app marketplace showcasing new brands. She described how her entrepreneurial origins began by collecting erasers in grade school, described how she handles times when her roadmap is on fire, and told us about her “secret double timeline” method. https://www.areteforyou.com

Subscribe to the Coeus Collective on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective

Stay up to date on the pulse of business news and startup culture with our newsletter:

Get more insights and interviews on all socials @CoeusCollective

Music from this Episode by Houis

Hosted by Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

Special thanks to:

ARWA SHARIF

KAI OTOMO

NICK ARENA

WTF MEDIA

COLLECTIVE DESIGN AGENCY