Listener of the Week is a series where we bring a member of the Our Future audience up to the podcast stage to share with the community how they are building their future, in context of our future. In #122, futurists hear from listener of the week, Michelangelo Valtancoli, a graduate of Cass Business School and the Founder of Almost Founders, an ed-tech startup with the goal of revolutionizing how young student founders learn to be founders. Almost Founders consists of a podcast for aspiring founders, with practical 15-minute topic-specific episodes, as well as free networking events to meet other aspiring founders, free chats with successful founders, member-only internships, and access to a strong network of partners and VCs. When Michelangelo and his co-founder Kourosh Ghaffari Ghazi Said first came to me with their plan to build this company, I was floored by their ambition and drive. Since that time, they've built an extremely vibrant community and some awesome media products that add value to the lives of young builders, don't miss this episode!

Check out Almost Founders Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6EMNZGQ0jbyMJdAQRyFn40?si=3n7xEEBcT7WoKcqYrKFL6w

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In #121, futurists hear from Krishna Koka, the Founder & CEO of PWR4 (previously PPE4All) and a 19-year-old Biomedical Engineeing Student at the University of Michigan. As COVID began to rear its ugly head on U.S. soil, Krishna couldn't bear to watch the atrocities occurring, so he spun up a non-profit enterprise run by students creating face-shields and other PPE, and routing it to the hospitals that needed it the most. Krishna's organization has delivered over 34,000 PPE products across the country, and now he has a big, bold vision way beyond the current pandemic. He wants to reinvent giving and bring startup culture to the non-profit space, and he tells us all about it on the podcast, don't miss this one!

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In #120, futurists meet Jason Raznick, the Founder & CEO of Benzinga, a financial news and content ecosystem that serves over 25 million readers a month in 125 countries. Jason has started and run several successful businesses, his first in college, when he launched an online textbook store for University of Michigan students, but behind the scenes of operating startups, Jason has always been excellent at finding high-growth small-cap stocks. He founded Benzinga in 2010 to bring media coverage to an asset class underlooked by more established media outlets, and he's built a thriving media company based on his vision to create content for small-caps. Listen to this interview to learn the full story behind Benzinga and some incredible lessons in entrerpreneurship. Oh and did I mention Jason is looking for college kids obsessed with the stock market to come on board to write about finance and get paid for it? Apply to this Our Future exclusive internship below!

Apply to Benzinga Writer Internship: https://forms.gle/XDpZr3G4TAe9Jf9x9

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Listener of the Week is a new series where we bring a member of the Our Future audience up to the podcast stage to share with the community how they are building their future, in context of our future. In the fourth-ever episode in this series and #119 listeners hear from Aaron Gill, an Our Future superfan, a high school student from the UK, and a voracious consumer of knowledge. Aaron discussses how he listened to 97 episodes of Our Future in one weekend, why he's addicted to growth and learning, and how he's looking at his future.

Book your slot to be Listener of the Week: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E42XO3jIQE3_rGuOqtlh7IYuFBTW7v-b0dH6R5QM_iI/edit?usp=sharing

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In #118 futurists learn from Grant Telford, the 22-year-old founder of The Backyard Athlete, an outdoor products/sports startup that has gone completely viral on TikTok and generated a die-hard community of customers. When I first discovered Grant a month ago he was at just over 100K followers on TikTok, and now he's at 370K, growing through his hilarious, entertaining videos of his products, and more recently a skit called "The Best Hands on TikTok" where Grant lathers his hands with a slippery lubricant and catches a football with one hand. Grant has created a business out of TikTok, and his sports product, most notably the Backyard Chip has been purchased by over 20,000 people. It's crazy what Grant has built and it's clear how passionate he is about the unique brand he's created! Don't miss this wild interview with a crazy Gen Z founder.

Follow The Backyard Athlete on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebackyardathlete?source=h5_m

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In #117, futurists learn about a career in consulting (and a founder story) with Pascal Cévaër-Corey, a graduate of Stanford University who spent two years as an analyst at McKinsey & Company's NYC HQ, working on over 16 projects across industries like telecom, banking, airplane manufacturing, and even healthcare. Pascal graduated his senior year of college with offers from BCG, Uber, in addition to McKinsey, and has several impressive internships under his belt which include Tom Ford and Gap Inc., and he shares some powerful career advice and insights from his experiences as a young professional. Now he's founding a fintech company called Pave Finance. Pascal's vision for Pave is delivering hedge fund style wealth management to retail investors through a mobile app, a market experience that has long been reserved for insitutitional invesotrs.

Sign up for Pave Finance's non-binding waitlist: https://www.pavefinance.com/

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In #116, futurists learn from Hugh Thomas, CEO & Co-Founder of Ugly Drinks, a CPG drinks startup he founded in London in 2016 after a long stint working at major beverage companies. Hugh was sick of a world where big brands were marketing pure sugar concoctions and telling an aspirational story about consuming unhealthy products. To disrupt the status quo, Hugh launched Ugly Drinks, which aims to bring transparency to the beverage market through zero-sugar, zero-calorie carbonated drinks delivered DTC with buzzy, retro-styled packaging and gorgeous marketing. Since launching the company in the UK, Ugly has expanded into the U.S. and despite having a strong focus on DTC subscriptions, is available in retail locations! In this episode, Hugh discusses why he was crazy enough to launch the company, some of the wacky flavors he's thinking about like Pizza and Rain, and shares powerful lessons on the entrepreneurial journey. Don't miss this bubbly episode.

A lucky Our Future listener is getting one free month of Ugly Drinks delivered to their doorstep. To be considered to win, repost this episode on your Instagram story and tag @ourfuturehq and @uglydrinks! Winners will be announced this week.

Follow Hugh on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uglyhugh/

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Listener of the Week is a new series where we bring a member of the Our Future audience up to the podcast stage to share with the community how they are building their future, in context of our future. In the third-ever episode in this series and #115 listeners hear from Rebecca Ma, a big fan of Our Future, a student at MSU, a former Supply Chain Intern at Kellogg's, and an incoming Supply Chain Intern at Microsoft. Rebecca discusses why she's passionate about the supply chain industry and how she went about recruiting the awesome internships she has been able to land.

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Connect with Rebecca on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marebecc/

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In #114, listeners hear from Cheri Alexander, Former Executive Director of Global HR at General Motors and Faculty at Michigan Ross, about her 10 C's of Leadership framework she has developed as a world-renowned thought leader in the executive education space and how they apply to young professionals as they begin their journeys as global leaders and change-makers. In this episode you'll learn the ingredients for successful leadership, no matter what stage you at in your career or startup, don't miss this one!

Connect with Cheri on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheri-alexander-36859710/

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In #113, listeners hear from Ian Borthwick, Senior Director of Influencer Channels at Seatgeek, the mobile-focused ticketing platform that’s known for helping people find great seats at mega events, but maybe even more so for their strokes in genius in influencer marketing. Ian has propelled Seatgeek to the highest level of the public conscious through some of the most successful influencer marketing campaigns, most famously with superstar David Dobrik (a Ferrari may or may not be included). Enjoy this mini masterclass on influencer marketing.

Follow Ian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianrborthwick

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