Most women learn early to arrange adulthood around a clock: finish the degree, build the career, find the partner, have children. Lauren Makler, Co-Founder and CEO of Cofertility, joins Vallabhi for a conversation about personal timelines and the pressure women feel to have their lives figured out “on time.”

They discuss what it means to design a life intentionally: choosing a partner without letting the biological clock govern the decision, understanding fertility before urgency sets in, and how having more options can change the way a woman approaches her career, relationships and future.

Lauren founded Cofertility from her own fertility experience to make egg freezing more accessible and expand reproductive choice. Its investors include Maria Sharapova, who has spoken about the tension between fertility timelines and the demands of an athletic career.

Previously, Lauren was an early Uber employee, where she founded Uber Health and helped millions of patients access care through innovative transportation solutions. In 2023, Lauren was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.

Lauren "LK" Rich lost her first boxing match before a sold-out crowd at Boston’s House of Blues and yet she left the ring feeling as though she had won. Boxing rebuilt her confidence and gave her a community after she arrived in the city with no phone, no car and no job. Today, she co-owns Backyard, a fixture of Boston’s fitness scene.

Having experienced postpartum depression after her first daughter, Lauren knew she would need something to hold onto after giving birth to twins. She chose HYROX as the challenge waiting for her on the other side.

Now training for her first solo race, she speaks candidly about motherhood, mom guilt and the complicated act of claiming time for herself: after years of showing up for everyone else, can she choose something difficult simply because it belongs to her?

At 21, Mateo Acosta-Rubio has already sold his first company, raised more than $1M for his next and represented the US at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Finals.

The work that changed him began with Didi, his fellow Babson classmate from South Sudan. After she passed away, Mateo chose to continue the idea they had started together: LetAllGirls.

Today, the nonprofit is building DIDI, an offline AI tutor that turns a $300 box into a local Wi-Fi hub where students can learn at once, without internet, signal or grid power. DIDI devices are now operating in South Sudan and South Africa.

Born in Venezuela and raised in Miami, Mateo grew up inside his family’s restaurant-franchising business; now a serial founder, he runs Clave, an AI platform for restaurant operations, and can quote the founder podcasts that shaped his thinking almost on command.

Mateo and Vallabhi talk about entrepreneurship as grief, the responsibility of carrying someone else’s vision, the deployment that failed after a year and a half of work, and why meaningful solutions must be built with the communities they serve.

Bianca Kolberg spent the first part of her career in the financial markets before joining HUNT, a secondhand luxury curation and search platform born in Brazil in 2023, and built primarily through WhatsApp. Founded by four friends, HUNT curates, sources and helps clients find luxury and vintage pieces through a model built on trust and community.

In this episode, Bianca joins Vallabhi for a conversation recorded as HUNT launches in the US. The two spent the summer inside Babson College's Summer Venture Program, an intensive 10-week startup accelerator for entrepreneurs building ventures in real time.

They talk about moving from finance to fashion, launching a consumer business across cultures, building with friends, learning ownership, and what happens when the predictable plan stops being the interesting one.

In only 6 months, the Founder and CEO of Yummy is back on The Almost Era with a company that has doubled year over year, a network supporting 120,000 gig-economy workers and a deeper understanding of what ownership demands.

Recorded at BAFTA during Northeastern University’s 2026 Global Leadership Summit in London, this conversation moves from The Alchemist and the myth of work-life balance to dream dinner guests, individual sovereignty and why Vicente chooses to keep building rather than selling.

There is also a small (and slightly cheeky) announcement about where The Almost Era is going next.

Recorded at BAFTA during Northeastern University’s Global Leadership Summit in London, this conversation with Austin Grippo, Enterprise AI and CX Lead at Salesforce UK, draws on the mindset of big-wave surfers: prepare rigorously for conditions you can never fully control.

Drawing on the mentality of big-wave surfers, who prepare rigorously for conditions they can never control, Austin offers a compelling way to think about ambition, leadership and personal growth: you cannot control the wave, but you can learn how to meet it.

He is also the creator of The Agility Ethos, which explores how people and organizations stay in motion when old knowledge is no longer enough.

Recorded live at BAFTA during Northeastern University’s Global Leadership Summit in London, this special episode explores what happens when your closest friendship becomes the foundation of a company.

Margaret Montavon and Elizabeth Raia met at 18, lived together for five years and became each others chosen families long before they became the co-founders of Pipe Dream, a film, television and theater production company.

What does it take to build something with the person who knows you best?

In this episode, Vallabhi sits down with Omaar Singh, Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to a Member of the House of Lords, UK.

Someone meant to join his family business breeding race horses, accidentally ends up in politics and building startups across entirely different worlds.

This is a conversation about ownership, curiosity, powerful rooms, and building a life that doesn't follow a linear path.

In this episode of The Almost Era, Vallabhi sits down with Nik Homan, founder of OrbitGroup.ai, to unpack what building a company really demands. From joining early-stage startups before starting your own to making decisions without perfect information, they explore the mindset behind entrepreneurship, the value of ownership, and why curiosity often matters more than certainty.

Making friends used to happen almost by accident, through school, work, or neighbours. Today, we move cities often, work remotely, and spend more time online than together.

In the first feature of Season 02, Vallabhi sits down with Bader Barghoti, the founder of Joude, a members-only community that brings together strangers through intimate dinners and curated gatherings across London.