On this episode, Philip Kasumu speaks to serial entrepreneur Victor Penev. Victor founded Bulgaria's largest internet company info.bg which has been called the the Yahoo and Google of Bulgaria by Forbes which he sold to 2 of Bulgaria's largest media companies in a multi-million dollar deal. He's also co-founded 3 other companies including his current startups Edamam which is about helping people eat better by making daily food choices simple and easy. The company has set itself the ambitious goal of organizing all the food knowledge in the world!

Victor has some interesting views when it comes to raising money for your startup and what you need to have figured out before you start knocking on doors.

On this episode, Philip Kasumu spoke with serial entrepreneur Brian Schechter. Brian, a former high school teacher turned successful entrepreneur loves to watch people grow whilst supporting them in their own version of self-expression. He previously co-founded and sold dating site 'HowAboutWe' and he's currently the founder and CEO of SelfMade.

SelfMade’s a platform that connects members with expert and affordable professional image editors and brand strategists. Members elevate their brands on Instagram, which results in follower growth, business opportunity and increased revenue.

They've raised $11m to date from top investors such as Primary VC, BoxGroup, FirstMark and many more.

You can check out SelfMade by following this link http://selfmade.refr.cc/philipk

Co founder of Wework Labs and Investor.

Jesse’s investment interests includes mobile, SaaS, big data, consumer and e-commerce. Prior to joining Flybridge in 2016, Jesse was an early executive at WeWork, one of the fastest growing and most valuable startups in history. He co-founded WeWork Labs in 2011, which became WeWork’s global startup incubator, and ran WeWork X, M&A, startup investments, business and digital product development as well as inside sales during his five-year tenure at the company.

Prior to WeWork, Jesse was the co-founder and CEO of Backstory, a venture backed startup. Jesse began his career traveling across the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Israel and China as a network security engineer based in Philadelphia. He moved to New York City where he became the head of information technology at LivePerson in 2010.

Step by step guide to raising VC money from a VC with Sumeet Shah from Brand Foundry.

Sumeet Shah is a principal at Brand Foundry VC. Brand Foundry VC have invested companies such as Warby Parker, Birchbox, Harry’s, Peloton and more. Sumeet graduated from Columbia university in 2008 with a bachelors in biomedical engineering focusing on biomechanics. He has over 6 years of experience across the startup and private equity industries, formerly running new business strategies at Gist Digital and handling business development and project work at Gotham Consulting Partners. He also assisted in the creation of XRC Labs, a consumer and retail accelerator, as the Program Manager for their inaugural class and was Head of Strategic Partnerships for their second class.

In this episode Sumeet lays out the blueprint for anyone who wants to raise Venture capital or anyone who is considering a career as a venture capitalist. This was a really informative show so make sure you’ve got your note-tak

Hear the incredible journey of Andrew Weinreich with SixDegrees, the first ever social network that sold it's patent to LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

Andrew Weinreich is a serial entrepreneur, social networking pioneer, and active presence in NYC’s Silicon Alley for 2 decades. To date, he’s founded 7 startups and has been awarded 2 software patents.

Since 2013, he has sold 2 businesses, including Xtify to IBM, while advising 5 tech startups such as Classpass. He is currently the co-founder and Chairman of Indicative, a data analytics startup. He leads Predicting Our Future, a podcast about the next revolutions in technology.

Katia cofounded Birchbox in 2010, driven by a fascination with the business dynamics of the beauty industry and a mission to redefine the way people discovered and shopped for beauty online. Today she is more passionate than ever about building the beauty destination for the average woman who is not passionate about beauty. Birchbox, which is best known for its monthly subscription of personalized samples, now has more than 1 million subscribers, 4 million total customers, 800 beauty and grooming brand partners, operations in six countries and a flagship store in New York City.

Katia holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in International Studies & Economics from Vassar College. Prior to graduating business school, she worked in structured finance and commercial real estate. She has been honored with accolades including Advertising Age Women to Watch, CEW Achiever’s Award, Fortune 40 Under 40, Inc. 30 Under 30, and WWD Digital Innovator of the Year in the Prestige Beau

On this episode, Philip interviewed Sam Parr the Founder of The Hustle and Hustle Con.

Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur who’s started a range of businesses from selling whisky online, to selling hotdogs, to then starting one of the most relevant business newsletters for millennials - The Hustle.

They talk about being aqui-hired for his Roommate app. Sam then talks about taking a 6 month month trip across America on his motorcycle where he was in solitude for the majority of that 6 months and what that did for him. They also talk about starting Hustle con which then led to The Hustle newsletter being created which now has 1,000,000 subscribers.

Sam also explains why he doesn’t care about the website and why they’re going all in on the newsletter. They also talk

about closing a crowdfunding campaign of $300k for The Hustle in less than 50 hours! Must listen!

Ian White was the CTO and Co-Founder of email service provider Sailthru. They’ve raised over $48m and now staff over 200 people in New York city. He also helped build Silicon Valley Insider which later grew to become Business insider. He’s known for building the famous slideshows feature in Business Insider articles.

Ian is now the Founder of Stardog which is his consultancy business for startups.

In this episode of Startup Handmedowns Philip and Ian talk about the early days of Business Insider and building Sailthru whilst still at Business Insider. They talk about product managers, CTO’s and how

speaking to users was crucial in the early days and more.

Tom Bilyeu is the co-founder of 2014 Inc. 500 company Quest Nutrition — a unicorn startup valued at over $1 billion — and the co-founder and host of Impact Theory. Tom’s mission is the creation of empowering media-based IP and the acceleration of mission-based businesses. Personally driven to help people develop the skills they will need to improve themselves and the world, Tom is intent to use commerce to address the dual pandemics of physical and mental malnourishment.

Tom regularly inspires audiences of entrepreneurs, change makers, and thought leaders at some of the most prestigious conferences and seminars around the world, including Abundance 360, A-fest, and Freedom Fast Lane. Tom has also been a guest on the Tony Robbins podcast and The School of Greatness podcast and has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Success, and The Huffington Post. Tom is currently on the Innovation Board of the XPRIZE Foundation.

In this episode, Rent the Runway CTO Josh Builder walks us through how the founding team launched Rent the Runway, their journey to changing the way consumers think about fashion, and all the challenges along the way.