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Elizabeth Grojean is the Founder and CEO of Baloo.
Elizabeth bounced around several different industries before getting to where she is today. After graduating from University of Texas with a marketing degree, she held roles in politics, advertising, and finance before working for a startup tequila brand and ultimately in children’s book publishing at Scholastic. Throughout all her experiences, she still felt like she had a lot of untapped energy, drive and ambition to give that wasn’t being utilized. So she quit. She said she felt like a huge failure and decided to go to the one place in the world that she felt really good – Bali. When she got there, it was an unlock. She was able to get out of the typical corporate grind for productivity and reconnect with what made her joyful. That’s where she got the idea to start Baloo.
At Baloo, Elizabeth and her team sell weighted blankets, a proven remedy to help people that suffer from poor sleep and anxiety. While it remains unclear exactly why weighted blankets cause better and deeper sleep, it’s believed that weighted blankets mimic the memory of being bundled up in our mother’s arms, a comforting feeling that promotes relaxation. Baloo makes their blankets with glass microbeads and has rave reviews from their customers.
This was an inspiring interview that really highlighted how we don’t all have a straight line path to get to where we want to go and how passion and energy for great products that solve a real need can take you far.
Tune in to hear Elizabeth's story!
As a special offer, this founder is giving our listeners 10% off all weighted blankets. Use code “Founder” when checking out at balooliving.com to take advantage of the offer!
EPISODE TOPICS:
Baloo - www.balooliving.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Shannon McLay is the Founder and CEO of Financial Gym.
Shannon never had a career as an entrepreneur in her life plan. Starting from when she was 14, she had one thing on her mind – making money. She started working in investment banking out of college and used to tell everyone, “I’m not changing the world, I’m just making money.” When she hit 30, she started questioning her purpose and realized she didn’t have a great answer for herself. As she started looking for a financial advisor of her own, she realized they all looked and felt the same. After becoming a financial advisor herself and realizing she was spending more time helping people pro-bono than the clients she was paid to advise (with over $250K in assets), she knew there was an unmet need. That’s when she got the idea for Financial Gym.
At Financial Gym, Shannon and her team are chasing a noble mission – to change the financial health of this and future generations. They work with over 3,000 clients remotely across all 50 states as well as in their 4 physical locations. They have a diverse client base, ranging from 17 to 74 years old across all levels of financial health and think of themselves like a regular gym but for your money.
This was an inspiring interview that helped break down the big scary monster that is financial health and taught me a bunch of things I should be doing to improve my own.
Tune in to hear Shannon's story!
Mention “The Founder Podcast” during your free consultation and get 40% off your membership during Covid (15% off when Covid ends).
EPISODE TOPICS:
Financial Gym - www.financialgym.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Steph Hon is the Founder and CEO of Cadence.
Like many of us, Steph found herself always on the move. Whether public transit or rock climbing, across towns or between countries, she seemed to always face this pain point around transporting her personal care products when she was on the go. If it wasn’t the heavy second bag or the fear of leaks and spills, it was the general discomfort of buying single use plastics and their negative impact on the environment. She wanted to create a solution that would empower her on the go just like she felt empowered at home. So she created one and named it Cadence.
At Cadence, Steph and her team have a lofty mission – to end single use, travel sized plastics. As a brand, they build intuitive movement solutions for the modern day consumer. Their first product, the capsule, is the next generation way to carry your health and wellness products while on the go. Could be vitamins, sunscreen, shampoo, hair gels, or anything else you need when you’re moving from one place to another – dry or wet, lotion or powder, liquid or solid, the capsule can handle it. The capsule is a hexagonal container made from recycled, ocean bound plastics that has no-show magnets inside so they can connect to one another. When you connect multiple capsules, it builds a honeycomb system that will stay together when you throw it in your bag. While the capsule is just the first in a long line of Cadence products, the commitment to beautiful design and quality is sure to persist as the brands grows.
This was an inspiring interview that taught me a lot about what it takes to launch a DTC brand and how to handle early roadblocks along the way.
Tune in to hear Steph's story!
Use code “Founder” at checkout to get 15% off all Cadence products.
EPISODE TOPICS:
Cadence - www.keepyourcadence.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Lisa Curtis is the Founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli.
While working for The Peace Corps in 2011, Lisa was stationed in Niger, West Africa. As a vegetarian in Africa, she found herself eating mostly rice and millet, a diet that left her feeling tired and weak for the majority of the day. When she mentioned it to a couple of women in her local village, they literally grabbed leaves off a nearby tree and mixed them with a West African peanut snack called Kuli Kuli. Turns out, that tree was a Moringa tree and those leaves were more nutritious than Kale. As she ate that mixture each morning for the next several weeks, she found her strength start to come back and knew that Moringa had to be shared with the world.
At Kuli Kuli, Lisa and her team are building and scaling the world’s leading Moringa brand. In addition to being more nutritious than Kale with respect to protein, iron, calcium and fiber, Moringa offers some incredible health benefits including supporting cardiovascular health, gut health and anti-inflammation. Kuli Kuli sells Moringa in a variety of different forms including energy shots, powders for smoothies as well as superfood bars. In addition to all of the health benefits, Kuli Kuli is a certified B corp, meaning that their social mission in embedded in their legal DNA. Their international supply chain is designed to empower small family farmers and women’s cooperatives all over the world, unlocking the US market for thousands of low income families.
This was an inspiring interview that taught me a ton about growing and scaling an international supply chain and shed light on one of the best new healthy alternatives to kale & spinach on the market.
Tune in to hear Lisa's story!
Use code “Founder” at checkout to get 10% off all Kuli Kuli products.
EPISODE TOPICS:
Kuli Kuli - www.kulikulifoods.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Olivia Landau and Kyle Simon are the Co-Founders and CEO/COO of The Clear Cut.
Olivia and Kyle are a dynamic duo power couple who met during their time studying at GIA, the Gemological Institute of America. A few years after graduating from gem school, they started noticing a lot of their friends were looking to get engaged and would often ask them for help, tips and even to design their custom rings. What initially started as an educational blog to help people better understand the do’s and don'ts of ring buying, quickly turned into a frenzy on the internet, with people from all over the world wanting custom rings and jewelry.
At The Clear Cut, Olivia, Kyle and their team have built a direct to consumer diamond engagement ring and fine jewelry powerhouse. They’ve taken what has traditionally been known as a mysterious, pay to play to industry and completely disrupted it, adding a layer of amazing customer service and transparency with their customers. Their goal is to be the end-to-end jewelry brand for the digital age.
This was an inspiring interview that taught me a ton about the diamond industry and shed light on one of the best new brands in the space.
Tune in to hear Olivia and Kyle's story!
EPISODE TOPICS:
The Clear Cut - www.theclearcut.co
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Michael Markesbery is the Co-Founder and CEO of Oros.
Michael has always been a self-proclaimed science geek. During his sophomore year at Miami University, he took a backpacking trip to the Swiss Alps. After triumphantly making it to the top of the tallest mountain, he was disappointed to realize he looked like the Michelin Man, wearing layers upon layers of puffy goose down coats to keep him warm. He didn’t get it. With all this incredible innovation happening in other industries, why was outerwear the same old, same old? When he got back to school, he learned about aerogel, the best insulation in the universe. It’s the thing that NASA puts in space shuttles to keep the astronauts warm in space. He thought immediately that this stuff needed to be in every jacket on the planet. After some experimentation and trial and error to get the aerogel into a form that worked for apparel, Lukla was born. Today, Lukla goes by a new name…Oros.
At Oros, Michael and his team make next generation consumer apparel. Their tagline “Find Your Beyond” couldn’t be more true as their clothes are designed to withstand the coldest elements. You can literally wear a T-shirt and their jacket at the top of a mountain and stay completely warm. Today, they sell jackets, midlayers and pants as well as a few accessories for both men and women, but it’s easy to see where they could go from here.
This was an inspiring interview that opened my mind up to what’s possible in the apparel space.
Tune in to hear Michael's story!
Use code “Founder” at checkout to get 15% off all Oros products through the end of August.
EPISODE TOPICS:
Oros - www.orosapparel.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Ryan Denehy is the Founder and CEO of Electric.
Ryan is a 3x founder who got his start making extreme sports videos. He parlayed that into an online ad network and media company that eventually sold to USA Today Sports in 2008. After realizing he didn't want to spend the rest of his career in online advertising, he left USA Today and started his first software company, Swarm. The vision for Swarm was to build a google analytics type solution for small and medium sized retailers. Ryan sold Swarm to Groupon in 2014. During his time building Swarm, Ryan was selling products through a network of local IT providers. When he realized only a handful of the IT providers he was working with provided the expertise and service level he expected, he knew there was an opportunity for disruption. In 2016, Electric was born.
At Electric, Ryan and his team have a super simple mission - make IT really easy for companies that don't have a robust IT department. For small and medium-sized companies that don't have multi-million dollar budgets for IT, they still want a world-class solution that is going to work with rather than against them. Today, Electric has about 200 employees serving over 300 customers and is seeing incredible growth.
This was an inspiring interview that got me fired up about the future of work and the way companies will continue to evolve with software.
Tune in to hear Ryan's story!
EPISODE TOPICS:
Electric - www.electric.ai
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Meg Maupin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Atolla.
After getting her start as a designer at places like FormLabs and Patagonia, she enrolled in a special dual degree program at MIT that enabled her to focus on both Product Engineering and Business. During her first year in school, she started to experience some autoimmune issues that led her to keep a detailed skin diary to help diagnose the problem. It got her thinking, why isn’t there a better way to figure out what’s wrong with my skin? When she combined her design background with the AI and Machine Learning capabilities she was studying at MIT, Atolla was born.
At Atolla, Meg and her team are building a data-first skincare company. When you sign up as a new customer, you complete an intake questionnaire about your diet, environment, lifestyle and current routine. Based on information about people who are similar to you, Atolla’s predictive model creates your first month's serum. Every month after, you complete an at-home skin analysis test that measures your oil, moisture and PH levels to further refine your custom formula. Their algorithms are also able to tell you which of the other products you use work well together, as well as which ones don’t, so you can switch up your routine to get the healthiest skin possible.
This was an inspiring interview that got me excited about the way consumer companies are using data to deliver personalized products, services and experiences.
Tune in to hear Meg's story!
Use code "Founder" at checkout to get 15% off your first month!
EPISODE TOPICS:
Atolla - www.atolla.co (Use code "Founder" for 15% off your first month)
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Justin Mares is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kettle & Fire.
After getting his start launching Roommate Fit, an eharmony type service that matched college roommates based on personality to prevent the classic “crazy random roommate” problem, Justin spent a few years in growth and marketing roles before launching Kettle & Fire in 2015. Along the way he wrote a book called Traction, launched a couple of online courses on growth hacking, acquired a couple of Shopify app based businesses and co-founded a second company, Perfect Keto, in 2017.
At Kettle & Fire, Justin and his team are building and scaling the fastest growing bone broth brand in the US. Today, they have over 30 employees and sell a range of products across bone broths and soups. At Perfect Keto, he and his team have built a collection of food and supplements to serve as a launch pad for people going keto. The mission across both companies is simple, to produce and sell products that make people healthier.
This was an inspiring interview that got me excited about changing the narrative around healthy consumption and food trends in the US.
Tune in to hear Justin's story!
Use code "TheFounder" at checkout to get 15% off!
EPISODE TOPICS:
Kettle & Fire - www.kettleandfire.com [Use code "TheFounder" at checkout to get 15% off]
Perfect Keto - www.perfectketo.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Nis Frome is the Co-Founder and VP Product of Alpha.
After starting his first business in web design and marketing when he was 17, Nis launched a couple of other companies in college and was able secure funding for Hublished, a platform that promised to help content producers market their content through webinars. Although Hublished in 2013 was too early for the webinar craze we’re experiencing today, he was able to meet his Co-Founder, Thor, and launch Alpha in 2014.
At Alpha, Nis and his team are building and scaling a rapid consumer insights platform that allows teams to quickly gather consumer feedback to make more informed product, marketing and innovation decisions. Alpha operates as one of the only on-demand solutions for teams to get real insights when performing consumer discovery research or concept testing different messaging, features or functionality of a digital product. Previously, this type of research might have taken weeks, but with Alpha, it takes just a couple of days. Today, Alpha has over 70 employees and raised over $20M to tackle this rapid insights space.
This was an eye-opening interview that spotlights how traditional industries are getting disrupted by savvy entrepreneurs with tech-enabled solutions.
Tune in to hear Nis's inspiring story!
EPISODE TOPICS:
Alpha - www.alphahq.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
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