Startup Renegades

Arjun Rai is a NYC-based entrepreneur who is on a mission to support small businesses with the power of visualized data science and artificial intelligence for digital marketing at HelloWoofy.com. A firm believer that every SMB should have an unfair advantage to compete against unlimited marketing budgets. He has raised from professional investors and personally invested nearly $500,000 in pre-seed VC funding as well as obtained corporate partners (including Fortune 500 companies, such as Microsoft and Google) resulting in over $135,000 in strategic resources.

Arjun is a highly focused and mission-driven entrepreneur and he shared many insights on how a software business can find their place in the sun and scale off of their first successes.

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• How launching with App Sumo gave Hello Woofy their big start
• The strategy Arjun used to maximize his successful partnership with App Sumo 
• A peek inside the Hello Woofy funnel

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Have you ever met a founder or heard their story and thought, “Oh, damn, they are changing the world!” That’s how you’ll feel after listening to Riana Lynn, founder of Journey foods. This is a food tech company that supports cutting edge product management and data services for food businesses. She's a biologist turned serial entrepreneur and has developed high-growth, nationally recognized technology, and food businesses. Her accomplishments have been featured on CNBC, Forbes, USA Today, wired TechCrunch entrepreneur, magazine, food tank and more. 

In this episode, Riana talks about:

• How Journey Foods uses data to drive innovation
• How Riana built a network strong enough to build her brand newsletters
• Her secret strategy for nurturing interns and doing awesome at social media at the same time

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Aimy Steadman is a Co-Founder and COO at Future/Proof, creators of BeatBox Beverages, the World's Tastiest Portable Party Punch™. Future/Proof was recently awarded one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 5000 Fast-Growing Privately Owned Companies in America.

This powerhouse is also a founding Board Member and 2021 Board President of the emerging CPG group Naturally Austin. She brought an amazing personal story and a wealth of experience and knowledge of running and growing a brand to this Startup Renegades episode.

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• What it’s like to build a CPG brand aside college and a job
• All about being on Shark Tank
• The frustrating problem Beatbox is overcoming to scale
• Some really smart Tik Tok insights and strategy for brands

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Sarah Duesk a female entrepreneur who in 2018 sold her glamping company, Under Canvas, a camping experience provider for over $100 million. Sarah's growth strategy is unlike any we’ve shared on Startup Renegades before, and her business acumen is on point.

After learning that women entrepreneurs receive only 2% of all available funding each year in the US, Sarah became a partner at Enygma Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in women led businesses in southern Africa. They have now invested 10s of millions of dollars in over 20 companies. Sarah believes passionately in empowering women to reach their full potential and enabling them to grow in their leadership. 

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• Why you MUST find out if there’s pent up demand if you want your business to be successful
• The unique non-marketing strategy that enabled Under Canvas to massively scale
• What Sarah looks for in the founders and companies she invests in

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Meg Delagrange is a creative entrepreneur who has built a thriving career as an artist and as a business owner. She's well known as the co-founder of Urban Southern, the hand-crafted leather handbag company with Amish roots. Meg’s work has been published and featured on Fox Business, WordPress TV, the Magnolia journal, USA Today, Women Magazine and Getty Images.

In this episode, Meg discusses how her background shaped who she is today and shares not just her wins, but her “fails” along the way.

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• Why every business owner/marketer should be building a StoryBrand
• Why Meg left a thriving marketing career to co-found a leather bag company
• The strategies Meg used to grow the company’s email list more than 700%
• How Meg exploded Urban Southern’s sales through email marketing

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Allegra Brantly is on a mission to lead 1 million women to 1 million in net worth as the founder and CEO of Factora, an online course and community that educates and empowers women to build real wealth together. She's a serial entrepreneur, and her story is going to inspire you. 

In this episode, Allegra walks us through her entire journey from the very beginnings of her career, to how she made some small transitions and realized that making a lot of money didn't mean that she had a lot of money. And what she's learned, she's been able to transform into this really empowering company that is changing the game and helping women grow their wealth. 

Allegra has a wealth of business-building knowledge and shares:

• Why she left a successful digital marketing career at the age of 24
• Some big life lessons from running her first business
• How customer success is the key to brand growth

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Zack Lister is one of the co-founders of Bodega brands, a serial entrepreneur in his own right with over 13 years of operational experience across various industries, including beverage technology and entertainment. 

In 2014, Zack founded Well Juicery, which is now Canada's largest and most widely distributed cold pressed juice brand, with distribution in over 1500 stores across Canada and the US. He has also co-founded axiom technologies, which is a cannabis bioscience company focused on the development of fast acting cannabis consumption methods for food and beverage products. 

In this episode of Startup Renegades, Zack talks about launching Bodega Brands and the specific challenges that Zack and his team went through in getting their first SKU—Sip Hecho—out into the world. 

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• Why authenticity is essential for growth for all businesses today
• Zack’s specific strategy for getting “sips to lips”
• Why failing is simply not an option

Enter SIPHECHO at checkout for 15% off (shop.siphecho.com)

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegades at www.startuprenegades.com

Wow, the end of the year already?! What a year it’s been! Shauna’s here to reflect on the past season (and the past 47 incredible episodes) and give you her biggest takeaways from the season and from the stories of a plethora of amazing guests. Most importantly, Shauna’s giving you some actionable advice—based on our guests biggest wins—to help move you and your business in the new year.

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• Shauna’s favorite moments of the season
• How business were able to thrive through the pandemic
• Shauna’s four biggest tips you should remember moving into the new year

Listen to this episode and more from our amazing guests at www.startuprenegades.com

Christie Marchese is the founder and CEO of Kinema, a new social cinema platform that is building a world-wide network of screening hosts, filmmakers and filmgoers. Under her leadership, the company’s ultimate goal is to expand access to engaging film and effectively eliminate theater deserts. Marchese has over 15 years experience developing grassroots marketing and social action campaigns for films to help drive lasting change.

Christie let’s us in on why evolution seems to be a recurring theme in her career, how COVID-19 may have actually helped Kinema grow, and the importance of growing your network and connections for the growth of your business. 

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• Kinema’s business model and how customer acquisition so key for them
• How having a connection with your investors can really change how they invest
• Understanding that while you may have a plan, it’s important to stay flexible

Listen to this episode and more at www.startuprenegades.com

Lawrence Cisneros is the co-founder and CEO of DRNXMYTH, a venture-backed cocktail innovation company. DRNXMYTH creates perfect craft cocktails with the world’s best bartenders and bottles them fresh with their proprietary technology. Lawrence has closed financing from angel investors and foreign venture capitalists, formed complex joint ventures and partnerships, and developed new products in the highly-regulated industry of distilled spirits. He received his B.A. from SDSU, and J.D. from USC where he then became a licensed attorney in the State of California.

Lawrence shares how he went from wanting to be a lawyer to being an entrepreneur, the importance of capitalizing on a trend, and the importance of creating an enjoyable customer experience. Lawrence also goes into how important user generated content can be for scaling a business and how DRNXMYTH tapped into this powerful marketing tool. 

Check out this episode to hear more about:

• Sampling groups of people to determine where and how to sell a product
• Perks of setting up an e-commerce site at the beginning of a pandemic
• Finding strategic partnerships in unlikely places

To listen to this episode and more, visit www.startuprenegades.com