Entrepreneurs Exposed

Melanie Travis, is the founder and CEO of Andie Swim, one of the fastest growing direct to consumer brands on the web. In this EP, Melanie discusses her shift into entrepreneurship from a background in film and comparative literature; the pain points surrounding the traditional women's swimwear shopping experience; the importance of a good manufacturing partner that can scale with your business; and actor Demi Moore's involvement as an advisor and early investor in the company.

EP Sponsor: www.eonetwork.org 

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Saud Juman is the founder, and former CEO of Policy Medical - a company he birthed in his mother's basement over 17 years ago. In this episode, we get into Saud's duties as a founder and then CEO, and why those two roles are very different; his motivation for selling the business; how the company prepared itself for sale; why Saud wanted an all cash deal and why he was adamant about not making specific concessions during deal talks; life after his big exit, and much more.

EP sponsor: https://eotoronto.ca/ 

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Originally aired: Jan 3, 2018

In this episode, Aussie entrepreneur Brian Smith, founder of global enterprise UGG boots, shares his story about starting UGG with less than $500, and an idea to bring sheepskin to California. Brian shares his early stories about raising cash in the 80’s, why understanding finance is key, and how the universe conspires to help you reach your goals.

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Jesse Horwitz is a co-founder and co-CEO at Hubble, one of America’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer e-commerce companies. Hubble is a new brand of contact lenses, founded on the basis of offering high quality, affordable lenses. Horwitz and his co-founder Ben Cogan have helped Hubble grow exponentially, and extend the brand's footprint around the world. In this episode, we get into how Hubble raised over $7 MIL pre-revenue funding, the company's impressive investor list, trends related to media buying and customer acquisition, and much more. Enjoy! 

EP sponsor: https://www.eonetwork.org/ 

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Dan Demsky, is a co-founder at Unbound Merino - one of the fastest growing direct to customer apparel brands on the web. In a world dominated by fast-fashion, Unbound is slowing things down by producing timeless, versatile pieces that are designed to last. In this episode, we discuss the company's amazing start on Indiegogo, what it took to create that first pitch video, Dan's system for selecting the right manufacturer overseas, business with best friends, and more. 

EP sponsor: www.nextcanada.com  

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Josh Hix, is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Plated. To date, Plated has shipped millions of meals to over 95% of the United States. Now partnered with the Albertsons, the company has created the first truly omni-channel meal kit experience. In this episode, we discuss the origins of the company and the growth of the meal kit space, the company's experience on Shark Tank, the role and importance of software, and of course, the big sale to Albertsons in 2017. Enjoy!  EP Sponsor: www.nextcanada.com

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Lisa Owen, is the co-founder at one of Canada’s most promising e-commerce businesses, Rent Frock Repeat. Lisa's team is turning the retail model on its head, and leading the sharing economy while ensuring women across Canada of any age, race, or economic status have the opportunity to access amazing fashion while also reducing their collective carbon-footprint. In this episode, we dig into the burgeoning world of "renting fashion", discussing the likes of Rent the Runway, Gwynnie Bee, Stitch Fix, and more; Lisa's take on business partnerships, her experience fund raising, the company's appearance on Dragon's Den, why fashion is the second biggest polluter on the planet and what Lisa's company is doing about it.

EP Sponsor: NEXT Canada -  www.nextfounders.ca 

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In this very raw conversation, Brian shares openly about his life of entrepreneurship. He discusses how he convinced his father that dropping out of school to start a junk business was a good idea, how his company's unique philosophy of hiring has led to fostering a great team, and why hiring an ex-Starbucks executive turned out to be a huge failure. 

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Heidi Reimer-Epp turned her passion for sustainability into Botanical PaperWorks, an award-winning business guided by environmental sustainability and practices. The company manufactures and markets eco-friendly seed paper that grows into flowers, herbs and vegetables when planted in soil. As CEO and co-founder, Heidi has overseen Botanical PaperWorks from start-up to international success story. In this short EP, Heidi and I discuss, the business of paper, why content generation is key, Heidi's initial dream to one day IPO, and more. 

Sponsor: https://espressocapital.com/ 

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From T-shirts, to Golf Courses, Security Cameras, Insurance, Athletic Footwear & Apparel, and more recently, SpringFree Trampolines, Steven Holmes has put together a remarkable career. In this episode, we discuss Steven's involvement in the origins of ClubLink, his pivot into entrepreneurship, GOBA Sports Group, his experience with Guy Raz on 'How I Built This', and the ever increasing success of SpringFree trampoline; a brand that has completely transformed the nature of backyard play.   Sponsor: https://espressocapital.com/

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