Maggie Bachenberg is the Co-Founder of Pointz, a bike safety app that offers safe navigation, route customization and 24/7 emergency roadside assistance to make people feel safer on their bikes. Maggie has been grinding away at Pointz for 4 years and was part of Techstars in 2022. Maggie shares how having shared values makes her relationship with her co-founder more resilient, how former founders tend to give the best advice, and how she's learned to set boundaries after experiencing burnout. I admire her focus and love for making her customers happy and incorporating customer feedback throughout her product development process. Speaking with Maggie has encouraged me to have more confidence and conviction in my ideas and business decisions.

00:00 The Founding of Points: A Bike Safety App
02:54 Introducing Points Plus: The Premium Subscription
06:23 User Engagement and Revenue Traction
14:00 The Co-Founder Partnership: Complementary Strengths and Shared Values
23:34 Navigating the Fundraising Environment
25:31 The Power of Techstars and Networking
27:30 Personal Growth and Lessons Learned
30:09 Seeking Advice from Former Founders
38:53 Balancing Work and Self-Care
43:44 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Jennifer Tang, a fashion and portrait photographer, shares her journey from shooting random photos with friends to becoming a professional photographer. She discusses her experimentation and creative process, drawing inspiration from her rebellious nature and finding beauty in the overlooked and off-putting. Jennifer also talks about her debut exhibition, Feed Me, which explores messy and intimate moments of people eating. She shares her experience balancing client work with her personal aesthetic and the challenges of imposter syndrome. Jennifer emphasizes the importance of a supportive community and offers advice to aspiring photographers.

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction and Background
(03:03) Starting the Feed Me Exhibition
(08:54) Balancing Client Work and Personal Aesthetic
(14:48) Transitioning from Hobby to Income
(23:25) Style and Aesthetic
(29:00) Discovering Yourself as an Artist
(36:43) Dealing with Imposter Syndrome
(43:06) Building a Supportive Community
(48:25) Advice to Past Self
(50:22) Where to Find Jennifer Tang

After praying for a long time to become a mother, Giana was staggered when she realized she was unfulfilled. Giana looked into herself and asked, “The day I die, what would I want to see as I go through my life’s memories?” Her answer and creation is Patisserie Luce, a boutique cakery that specializes in making cakes and desserts that are refined, timeless and enchanting.

Chapters
(00:00:00) Baking, Infertility & Life Purpose
(00:06:46) Nurturing the Fire and Passion Within
(00:13:21) Balancing Your Own Art with Client Requests
(00:16:37) Receiving and Rejecting Client Feedback
(00:21:27) Balancing Perfectionism
(00:22:54) Joy in Experimentation
(00:24:45) Facing and Overcoming Fears
(00:29:33) Turning Obsession into a Virtue
(00:39:38) Taking Care of Yourself to Nurture Your Passions

David Lu is the Co-Founder and CTO of H2Ok Innovations, which provides efficient liquid management solutions for manufacturing clients, such as Fortune 500 companies including Unilever and Coca Cola. David has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 leader as an entrepreneur in cleantech, tackling the application of digital technologies in fundamental but often more outdated, slow to change manufacturing, infrastructure, and supply chain spaces for more sustainable operations. David shares his pearls of wisdom, from his first-principles approach to problem-solving and product development, to how he keeps himself sane and grounded despite getting “100% obsessed” and giving it his all.

Chapters
(00:00:00) H2Ok Innovations' Liquid Management Solutions for Manufacturing
(00:03:18) Getting 100% Obsessed with Problem Solving
(00:08:58) Trust & Transparency in People Operations, Hiring & Problem Solving
(00:16:03) Problem Discovery during Sales Calls
(00:19:41) Getting the First Big Customer: Large Ag Organization
(00:25:30) Importance of Time Off & Sleep for Decision Making
(00:31:13) Delegating Even as a Natural Execution-Focused Person
(00:36:46) Co-Founding & Working With My Sister
(00:44:55) Best Way to Learn is Lots of Experimentation

After graduating from Cambridge with an engineering degree, Ian Fong went to work for two different entrepreneurs to open more than 10 cafes (and to close down several, too). After cutting his teeth learning from the bosses, Ian set out to do yet again something atypical; Ian decided to go knocking on old tailors' doors in a run-down building reminiscent of Cyberpunk to start a trendy, custom tailor, and for over 8 years, Ian turned the head on the sleepy, un-user-friendly tailor experience. Ian now builds beautiful custom keyboards and coffee gear through his brand, Brazen Studio. Ian shows us the power of solving for your own problems through your business, no-to-low-cost market validation testing, and tackling niches that require little marketing budget.

Get a 10% discount (valid until Nov 30) with code EPW10 on https://www.brazenstudio.co/

Chapters
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:55) What I Learned Working for Entrepreneurs At First
(00:02:39) Solving My Own Problem of Shirts Never Fitting
(00:06:22) Simplifying Tailoring to Make It More Approachable
(00:07:56) Finding & Retaining Talent as the Biggest Problem
(00:10:13) Hustling Door-to-Door to Find OG "Old Guy," The First Tailor
(00:13:20) The Infectiousness of Passion & How It Brings a Team Together
(00:14:52) Facing Doubts & Hearing Doubts From Other People
(00:18:34) Being Well-Rounded: Creative Eye x Technical Skills
(00:20:37) Closing Down CUFFS After 8 Years
(00:23:07) I Almost Opened a Pizza Shop
(00:24:03) Posting Terrazzo Keyboard Design on Reddit & Going Viral
(00:28:00) Learning from Zappos' Tony Hsieh: Would you be doing it in 10 years if you didn't make any Money from it?
(00:31:12) My Successful Traits: Being a Jack of All Trades & Being Scrappy. Areas of Improvement: Scaling a Business
(00:32:37) Keyboard & Coffee Niches Mean Fewer Marketing Dollars
(00:36:03) Influencers Help Us Target the Niche with Fewer Marketing Dollars
(00:38:01) brazenstudio.co, IG: @brazenstudio, @brazenworkshophk
 

Rosie is the founder of Perkies, which makes innovative undergarments for women. Perkies' first product was a sticky bra with replaceable adhesives, since the adhesive wearing off or becoming dirty is the reason why most traditional sticky bras have a short usage life. Rosie also turned the head around nipple covers and created Perkies Nips, which are stick-on nipples, which have become a pop-culture favorite at Urban Outfitters along with the free-the-nip trend, as well as worn by breast cancer survivors and previvors to reclaim their femininity and confidence post-mastectomy.

Rosie shares her advice on problem-solving and mindset, including the importance of enjoying the journey -- lessons she learned the hard way losing games and not getting playing time as part of the women's lacrosse team at Brown, as well as the power of networking and not taking no for an answer.

I am in such awe of Rosie and I am so grateful we met at Brown! Her positivity, energy and radiance is contagious. Thanks again for your time, Rosie, I don't take it for granted!

Chapters
(00:00:00) Perkies Sticky Bra with Replaceable Adhesives at Brown
(00:03:49) 3 Years of Branding, Learning & Changing the Name of the Company
(00:08:38) Power of Networking and Persistence
(00:09:04) Selling with Urban Outfitters & Getting Them as a Buyer
(00:12:54) Selling on Amazon, Direct Website, Urban Outfitters
(00:17:31) Finding the Gap in Market in Diversity of Bra Colors in UK & Australia
(00:20:06) Being Accommodating to Retailers for Long-Term Strategy
(00:24:13) How Hailey Bieber's Free the Nip Look Inspired Perkies Nips
(00:26:14) Partnering with Breast Cancer Research Foundation 
(00:26:54) Empowering Women Post-Mastectomy with Non-Permanent Stick-On Perkies Nips
(00:31:05) Keeping the Mind Strong with Working Out, Sleep, Friendships & Enjoying the Rollercoaster of the Journey

Jeff Yu, Co-Founder of Wazup Running Club in Hong Kong, shares his tips on how he's been able to grow and maintain his community & the 4 different business lines that they've grown.

Chapters
(00:00:00) From One Family of a Club to Growing to Triple-Digit Members
(00:06:47) Run Club Networks Leading to Job Opportunities & Diversity
(00:10:17) Business Lines & Revenue Streams
(00:15:06) Finding a Like-Minded Team
(00:18:44) Vulnerability & The Importance of Listening
(00:23:33) Delegating for Growth
(00:28:45) Applying Prototyping & Iteration Concepts to Community Building
(00:31:30) How Jeff Got Into Running; From 3k to 60k Runs
(00:33:11) Running for Mental Clarity & Stress Relief
(00:37:51) Decisiveness & Persistence to Build a Community
(00:41:09) Where to Find Wazup & Jeff Online

Seth Berkman is the author of A Team of Their Own, a December Stephen Curry Book Club Pick & One of ESPN’s 25 Can’t Miss Books of 2019. Seth captures the complex humanity of the South Korean women’s ice hockey team; a story about overcoming a political sandstorm, of sparring against sexist dynamics in sports, and despite it all, keep on keeping on. It is as much of a journey of self-discovery for the South Korean, immigrant and adoptee Korean-American, Canadian, and North Korean players and coaches, as it is a journey of self-discovery for Seth, who visited South Korea for the first time since his adoption during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Join us for Seth’s incredible insight into the political, historical and gender dynamics behind the complex story of the South Korean women’s hockey team, and learn how Seth got his book published and what he would do differently next time, knowing what he knows now about publishing and writing a book.

Chapters
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:03:44) Getting to Know the Players
(00:08:51) Cultural Differences Impacting Team Dynamics
(00:17:29) Why Seth Wrote the Book
(00:18:27) North Koreans Players Added 2 Weeks before Olympics
(00:19:05) International Coverage by CNN, ABC, BBC
(00:24:14) North & South Korean Players: Sneaking in Each Others' Dorms
(00:29:02) Reporting at NYT & Wirecutter v. Writing a Book
(00:31:03) Writing the Book in One Month, from Sunrise till 10PM
(00:34:38) Seth's Self-Discover Journey as an American adoptee from Korea
(00:39:04) Keeping in Touch with the Players
(00:42:29) How Seth Marketed The Book & Found Communities
(00:45:52) How Seth Found His Agent & Published His Book
(00:49:28) Importance of Pushing Back on Publishers & Editors
(00:51:24) Self-Publishing v. Traditional Publishing
(00:53:35) Where to Find "A Team of Their Own"
 

How do you get started with modeling? What does it take to shoot with Adidas, L’Oreal and Brookstone? Karlly Feng shares her experience signing with BICOASTAL MGMT and how she balances Modeling with YouTube and her 9-5 as a Product Manager at Microsoft.

Chapters
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:23) How to Practice Taking Photos
(00:05:00) Do You Need a Portfolio to Start Professionally Modeling? 
(00:07:00) Pros & Cons of Signing With an Agency
(00:08:40) My First Casting
(00:10:42) Shooting with Adidas
(00:12:14) On Being an Asian Petite Model
(00:13:20) Balancing 9-5 at Microsoft with Modeling & YouTube 
(00:16:30) Bias Toward Action
(00:18:20) How to Get Over the Fear of Putting Yourself Out There
(00:21:08) Discovering Your Innate, Hidden Creativity Amidst a 9-5
(00:24:40) Challenges
(00:25:52) Advice to Getting Started with Modeling & Self-Acutalizing Your Dreams
(00:30:00) Where to Find Karlly

James Chu is the founder of Paper Shades, which makes sunglasses made of recycled paper, and whose corporate clients include Red Bull and United Airlines. James goes deep into how his extremely varied design & engineering work set the stage for the tough problem solving Paper Shades has demanded, and advice on how to build excellent relationships with suppliers. If you want a pair of durable paper sunnies -- James' own pair survived after being run over by a car -- head over to www.papershades.net; EASY10 will get you a 10% discount.

Chapters
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:52) Getting the Idea
(00:05:05) First Pair of Paper Shades
(00:08:11) Manufacturers as a True Execution Partner & What you can do if you only have Small Orders
(00:18:40) Paper Shades are Durable -- James' pair even survived being run over by a car