Jose Carlos "Charlie" Sarmiento went from corporate finance executive in Guatemala to extreme triathlete competing on the world stage, ultimately building VTX Athlete - a platform that connects endurance athletes with funding and brand sponsorships. In this episode, he shares his incredible journey from losing his father at 14, overcoming depression through ultramarathons, and creating a revolutionary algorithm that ranks athletes based on performance data rather than social media followers.

What You'll Learn:

• How to transition from corporate executive to sports entrepreneur
• Why endurance sports funding is a $100 billion untapped market
• The real costs of competing internationally ($15K per race, $100K annually)
• How performance data can revolutionize athlete sponsorships
• The mindset system that took Charlie from depression to world championships
• Immigration strategies: From O1A visa to green card in 3 months

⏰ KEY TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction: Meet Charlie Sarmiento, Ultra-Athlete & Entrepreneur 03:23 - Losing His Father at 14: The Gift That Shaped His Character 07:14 - Building VTX Athlete: The "NASDAQ for Athletes" Concept 08:47 - Why Endurance Sports? The Untapped 100 Million Athlete Market 09:44 - The Real Cost Breakdown: $15K Per Race, $100K Annual Budget 12:07 - The VTX Algorithm: Performance Data vs. Social Media Metrics 14:29 - Three-Index System: Training, Social Impact, Athletic Results 16:36 - Market Size: 100M Athletes Worldwide, 60M Target Market 17:24 - Beyond Gear: Airlines, Hotels, and Real Sponsorship Needs 19:51 - "The Real Ultraman" Book: System to Rewire Your Brain 21:43 - From Zero to 50 Miles: Using Ultra Running to Beat Depression 23:02 - Immigration Journey: O1A Visa Through Athletic Excellence 27:40 - Why Entrepreneurship is Harder Than Ultramarathons 31:49 - Favorite Race: Lavaredo Dolomites, Italy (Family Heritage) 32:55 - Living in Gratitude: What Charlie is Optimistic About

🔗 Connect with Charlie:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ultrasarmiento/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesarmiento/

Company: www.vtxathlete.com

Book: https://a.co/d/33SuRkQ

🎯 About VTX Athlete: VTX Athlete is revolutionizing endurance sports by creating the first performance-based marketplace connecting athletes with funding and brand sponsorships through data-driven algorithms.

#Entrepreneurship #EnduranceSports #UltraMarathon #Immigration #PerformanceData #SportsSponsorship #Guatemala #Austin #StartupStory

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Supercharge your existing KYC with e-IDs

Polish born Jarek Sygitowicz is co-founder and CSO at YC backed and London based Authologic. Founded in 2020, Authologic is a digital ID startup bridging legacy KYC systems and AI-era identity verification, helping businesses stay compliant, secure, and user-friendly.

As traditional verification methods like plastic IDs and photo uploads become more vulnerable to AI fraud, Authologic’s platform minimizes these risks, enhances privacy, and streamlines onboarding while cutting operational costs for customers. With regulations pushing digital ID adoption across Europe, Authologic supports both digital and traditional verification methods, making KYC and AML processes easier for financial services, gaming, and crypto industries.

What You'll Learn:

• How craftsmanship principles from tailoring translate perfectly to digital product design
• Why COVID accelerated the urgent need for digital identity solutions
• How AI is making traditional photo-based ID verification dangerously outdated
• The mechanics of how eIDs and identity wallets actually work (with live demo!)
• Why London became the strategic choice for a Polish fintech startup
• The YC application strategy that got them accepted on their first try
• How to fundraise by focusing on traction, not persuasion

⏰ KEY TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction: Meet Jarek Sygitowicz, Co-founder of Authologic

01:00 - Family of Tailors: How Bauhaus Design Principles Shape Tech Products

04:00 - Early Tech Journey: From Linux Blogs to First Exit in the 90s

07:00 - The Authologic Vision: Why Plastic IDs Are Like 19th Century Ships

09:00 - COVID's Impact: How Lockdowns Forced Digital Identity Innovation

12:00 - The Global eID Hub: Building "Stripe for KYC" Across Countries

14:00 - Why London?: Strategic Positioning in the Global Fintech Ecosystem

16:00 - AI's Identity Crisis: Proving You're Human in a Deepfake World

18:00 - Live Demo: How eID Wallets Work in Practice (12-Second Verification!)

21:00 - Apple's Game-Changer: Passport Support in Apple Wallet

23:00 - YC Journey: Getting Accepted on First Application

26:00 - Fundraising Philosophy: Why Traction Beats Persuasion Every Time

32:00 - Future-Proofing Identity: What Average People Should Do Today

33:00 - Ultimate Optimism: Why Technology Will Solve Our Biggest Problems

🔗 Connect with Jarek:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sygitowicz

Website: https://authologic.com/

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Startup Founders Can Accelerate Their Fundraising with Boxsy

Elisabeth Bykoff went from aerospace engineering in France to building Boxsy, an AI-powered platform that helps startups scale operationally while connecting them with investors and ecosystem partners. In this episode, she shares her 20+ year journey in the US, the challenges of being a non-technical founder in AI, and why she believes the venture ecosystem needs more transparency on both sides.

What You'll Learn:

• How to transition from services to product companies successfully
• Why taking calculated risks as an immigrant entrepreneur pays off
• The evolution from "ops in a box" to agentic COO platforms
• How AI is changing fundraising and startup operations
• Why VCs and startups both need more transparency
• The challenges of losing multiple CTOs as a non-technical founder

⏰ KEY TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction: Meet Elisabeth Bykoff, Founder of Boxsy

02:30 - From French Aerospace Engineering to Seattle (Early Background)

05:45 - The Boeing Rejection: Pivoting from Engineering to Business

09:15 - 10 Years at PWC: Building Salesforce Practice and Getting Green Card

12:00 - Leaving Partnership Track: Jumping into Pre-IPO World with Aptus

15:30 - Key Learning: Services vs. Product Company Transition

18:45 - Series A Experience: From $290M Revenue to $1M ARR

21:20 - The Boxsy Origin: "Ops in a Box" Concept During COVID

24:15 - 2023 Validation Year: Patient Approach to Market Research

27:40 - The Pivot Discovery: Investors Want Transparency Too

30:45 - Current Focus: Fundraising Readiness and Investor Matching

33:30 - Target Market: VCs Managing 10-400 Portfolio Companies

36:20 - The Challenge: Losing Two CTOs Since July 2024

39:15 - Non-Technical Founder Reality: Lovable vs. Months of Development

41:25 - Future Predictions: More Solo Entrepreneurs, Hands-On VCs

44:30 - Book Discussion: "French Landing" - 20 Stories from 20 Years

47:15 - Healthcare Horror Stories: Why Pet Insurance Makes More Sense

49:45 - Optimistic Outlook: AI as the Next Internet-Level Breakthrough

🔗 Connect with Elisabeth:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisabethbykoff/

Read Her Book: "French Landing" (Available in audiobook, narrated by Elisabeth)

Website: https://www.boxsy.io/

🎯 About Boxsy: Boxsy is a unified platform helping founders raise faster and investors make smarter, data-backed decisions.

#Entrepreneurship #AI #StartupOperations #Fundraising #VentureCapital #Immigration #TechFounder #BookLaunch

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Nestor Castillero went from having just $51 in his pocket to building Maera, a seven-figure company that helps global entrepreneurs launch US businesses. In this episode, he shares the raw truth about bootstrapping a business, the power of content marketing, and why US LLCs are game-changers for international founders.

What You'll Learn:

• How to build a business with almost no capital
• Why US LLCs give global entrepreneurs massive advantages
• Content marketing strategies that actually convert
• The decision between bootstrapping vs. raising capital
• How to turn financial pressure into business momentum

⏰ KEY TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction: Meet Nestor Castillero, Founder of Maera 02:30 - From Panama Lawyer to Wealth Management (Early Background) 05:45 - The Gold Fund Failure: Losing Everything and Starting Over 09:15 - The $51 Beginning: Birth of Maera in 2022 12:00 - First Customer: $899 from Peru and the Validation Moment 15:30 - Working 3 Jobs: Madrid Restaurant + Building Maera at Night 18:45 - The Green Card Approval and Move to New York 21:20 - Why LLCs Over Other Business Entities 24:15 - The 3 Key Benefits of US LLCs for Global Entrepreneurs 27:40 - Target Customers: Who Uses Maera's Services 30:45 - E-commerce and Amazon: Physical Products Strategy 33:30 - Content Marketing: The Free Customer Acquisition Strategy 36:20 - What Works vs. What Doesn't in Content Creation 39:15 - The Decision NOT to Raise Capital 41:25 - What Nestor's Optimistic About for the Future

🔗 Connect with Nestor:

Website: https://www.maera.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nestor-castillero

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maerahq/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maerahq

🎯 About Maera: Maera helps global entrepreneurs launch and grow US businesses with LLC formation, bank accounts, tax support, and more - all from anywhere in the world.

#Entrepreneurship #BusinessFormation #ContentMarketing #Bootstrapping #GlobalBusiness #LLC #StartupStory

Subscribe for more founder stories and business insights! 🔔

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Helping immigrants navigate life in the U.S.

From Nepal to New York City, Liesel Vaidya is the co-founder and CEO of Imera, a venture-backed platform focused on expanding access and opportunity for immigrants. Liesel previously served as CTO of a digital health startup, where she built award-winning products that transformed access to care for survivors of sexual assault. Originally from Kathmandu, Nepal, she understands firsthand the barriers immigrants face when building a life in a new country.

00:00 Introduction and Background

01:06 Starting the First Company, and raising $9 million

02:51 Challenges and Lessons Learned

05:34 The Birth of a New Idea

09:52 Introducing Imera - bridging the knowledge gap for immigrants

14:02 Community Building and Partnerships

17:03 Future Vision and Goals

Connect with Liesel:

• Website: www.withimera.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lieselvaidya

Enjoy the episode!

#ImmigrationTech #ForeignFounders #StartupStory #EntrepreneurshipJourney #ImmigrantSuccess

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Measure and manage all your ad campaigns with RedTrack.io

Vlad Zhovtenko is the CEO and co-founder of RedTrack, the AI-driven analytics and automation platform for media buyers. He has been an active player in the digital advertising space since 2000, and has held multiple marketing and managing director roles in the industry. Beginning in 2008, Vlad worked as an independent consultant and advisor to companies seeking to improve their lead generation and ad tech, helping them create comprehensive digital sales and marketing strategies and establish relevant processes for sustained growth.

He co-founded AdxGeeks in 2015, which provided programmatic media-buying solutions through a white-label DSP SaaS program, then co-founded RedTrack in 2019 to make digital marketing analytics & automation more accessible to SMEs and to help media buyers to make smarter decisions and easily scale campaigns for revenue growth.

In this episode, Vlad shares his experiences:

• Fundraising for RedTrack over the course of 3 years
• Advice on Fundraising in a competitive vertical
• Building for product market fit with Chess and Go as a framework
• Life and pace in Lithuania

Find Vlad Zhovtenko on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhovtenko/

Track, attribute, automate, and scale your advertising with RedTrack

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Secure your U.S. Green Card with Half the Investment through EB5 Loan

Nikin Tharan is the co-founder of Greencard Inc and EB5 Loan. Greencard Inc. is a startup dedicated to simplifying the process for high-skilled immigrants to obtain talent visas. Through a personalized program, Greencard Inc helps immigrants build and showcase their accomplishments to secure O1, EB1, and NIW visas. The EB5 Loan program offers foreign investors a direct path to U.S. permanent residency. While traditional applicants invest $800,000 in qualifying American job-creating projects, our innovative financing solution requires just $400,000 upfront - making your American dream accessible today.

In this episode, we learn more about the EB5 program and EB5 Loan.

Here’s how it works:

• The EB5 program requires an $800,000 investment.
• You invest $400,000 of your own funds.
• We connect you with a lending partner who provides the remaining $400,000 at a competitive ~5% interest rate.
• You repay the loan over time.

This structure is purpose-built for talented professionals already in the U.S. on valid status (H1B, F1, etc.).

Nikin himself is a recipient of the O1A visa (July 2020) and EB1A Green Card (July 2022), and his journey overcoming setbacks to obtain the Green Card is featured in the Amazon best-seller Unshackled.

Connect with Nikin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ntharan/

Learn more about EB5 Loan: https://eb5loan.com/

Work with Greencard Inc.: https://www.greencard.inc/

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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See how Endeavor Elements is architecting the future of flight

$100 Per Line of Code? How This Aerospace Founder is Disrupting Aviation

In this eye-opening episode, we sit down with Yves Remmler, the visionary Co-Founder & CEO of Endeavor Elements, who's bringing Silicon Valley innovation to the traditionally slow and regulation-heavy aerospace industry.

Yves reveals how his aerospace startup is revolutionizing the future of flight through cutting-edge AI-driven avionics systems that are setting new standards for safety and efficiency. You'll discover why the aerospace industry currently spends a staggering $100 per line of code and how Endeavor Elements is dramatically reducing these costs while maintaining rigorous safety standards.

Dive deep into the technological breakthroughs enabling fully automated flight and learn how these innovations will transform air travel in the coming decades. Yves shares his ambitious roadmap for building a trillion-dollar company by reimagining how certification processes work in high-stakes industries like aviation and defense.

For anyone interested in aerospace engineering, aviation technology, AI applications in transportation, or disruptive innovation in heavily regulated industries, this conversation offers unprecedented insights from one of the field's most forward-thinking entrepreneurs.

#AerospaceInnovation #AutomatedFlight #AviationTech #StartupDisruption #AIinAviation #AerospaceSoftware #FutureOfFlight #CertificationSolutions

Reach out to Yves Remmler on X: https://x.com/yvesremmler

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Engage your fans with Fanlist

Pat Cheung discovered his passion for audience building in 2011 while serving as Head of Product at EQAL, one of Los Angeles' first celebrity and influencer networks, where he designed a social platform driving fan engagement for over 40 influencers and 20 million monthly fan interactions. Currently the founder and CEO of Fanlist, a platform enabling podcasters to create fan pages for engagement and monetization, he has been a tech founder for over a decade with multiple successful exits. His love for technology, business, and podcasting is reflected in Fanlist, and as an avid podcast enthusiast, he's written three books sharing practical tips for podcasters to engage their fans.

Pat took his experience building startups and his new role is to support founders in the Portland Metro Region. Through the Metro Hub, they provider mentorship, connections and mentorship.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Orange County, he now resides in Portland, Oregon.

In the episode we talk about:

• Pat’s life growing up as immigrant from Hong Kong
• How he found entrepreneurship and tech through design
• Helping founders in the Portland Metro Region
• Industries that Portland, OR is exceptional at: outdoor apparel, food and bev
• Portland as the hub for bootstrapping founders

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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Watch The Flamingo Effect using TODAQ Micro’s technology

Hassan Khan is a co-Founder and the CEO of TODAQ Micro, a fintech that enables instant micropayments for producers of movies, shows and documentaries that want a direct-to-consumer, frictionless, pay-as-you-do experience where they can control their customer relationship, control their content, and have better real-time monetization. Consumers and fans benefit from getting just what they want with one tap without requiring logins or subscriptions.

He is also a co-founder of TODAQ Labs, a deeptech R&D lab that works with Cambridge University and ARM Technologies and has released new web application protocols and cryptographic technologies to enable open web microtransactions.

In 2015, Hassan founded his first company, Quantius, a fintech lender which collateralized IP and intangibleassets to secure growth credit for knowledge rich SMEs. In 2019, Quantius placed third in the Canadian Hedge Fund Awards Private Debt category. The Quantius platform is now the Business Development Bank of Canada’s National IP Innovation Fund.

He was a consultant with McKinsey & Company from 2009 to 2014 serving clients on digital transformation. Hassan’s background started as an Army Signals Officer with the Canadian Army. During his time in service he created integrated cryptographic capabilities for security and emergency response agencies to cooperate for security operations in the former Yugoslavia and the G8 Summit, disaster response for the British Columbia forest fires, and other activities.

Hassan is a computer engineering graduate from the Royal Military College of Canada and completed his prior schooling at Upper Canada College in Toronto.

In this episode we talk about:

• Hassan’s upbringing in Canada and joining the Canadian Army
• Seeing the process of rebuilding after war
• Creating opportunities for small businesses in his first startup
• Supporting studios monetize their work and get paid
• How TODAQ Micro created the first digital rental share system

Are you a studio interested in selling and renting your movies and TV show, while getting paid quickly? Work with TODAQ Micro.

Enjoy the episode!

If you love this episode, please share and review the podcast! It will help more immigrant and international founders find these content.

You can find us here: https://linktr.ee/foreignfounders

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