Amanda Lewan is an entrepreneur and writer based in Michigan. She has spent years being a connector in Detroit's entrepreneurial ecosystem, starting by building her co-working company, Bamboo. Bamboo is more than just an office space, and serves as a support system for entrepreneurs with offices in Detroit and Royal Oak. She and her team have plans to grow into more cities in the Midwest, while keeping inclusivity and community at the forefront of their mission. Human connection has been through tumultuous times over the past two years, and the episode touches on how Amanda and the members of Bamboo have collectively developed a more flexible work environment to serve them moving forward.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Amanda Lewan - Bamboo

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

Harvard Business Review: Getting Brand Communities Right

Sheu-Jane, aka "the Captain" of Repela, had so much to say about building ventures in a meaningful way. She and her team are on a mission to build eco-friendly anti-fouling coating, which is crucial when it comes to protecting our freshwater resources and environment in general. The episode includes advice on how to be well-prepared when creating stakeholder relationships, ensuring that you stay in love with the problem you are solving, and using every possible opportunity to learn and improve your solution.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Sheu-Jane Gallagher - Repela

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

How to Become an Effective Female Founder

National Science Foundation Award 

Customer Discovery Basics 

Michigan Startup Accelerator Program 

Early Stage Funding | MEDC | Michigan Business Accelerator Fund 

The Michigan Emerging Technologies Fund (ETF)

TechTown Detroit 

EMAIL US:

[email protected]

Rishi Moudgil joins the podcast and discusses how his founder journey began while in school, and how he learned to listen to the communities he was trying to serve in order to build a valuable solution for their problems. He also explains the work he does as the Founding Executive Director of Greenlight Fund Detroit, communicating the importance of balancing heart and dollars when innovating, and defining what social impact really means.

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Rishi Moudgil - Greenlight Fund Detroit

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - Treeo

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

Measuring Social Change by Alnoor Ebrahim

Eight Tips for Building Cross-Cultural Relationships

A new way to score your ability to scale new ventures 

What is a Value Proposition / What is Customer Discovery?

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

EMAIL US:

[email protected]

TFR co-hosts reunite with their professor, Ed Kim. He talks about how he has stepped into and learned from different roles, persevered through trying times, and fully realized the importance of failing fast when it was time to move on from a venture. 

CONNECT WITH US:

TFR: linktr.ee/thefoundersroundtable

Ed Kim - www.repela.co

Dominique Golden

Isha Naik - www.treeo.co

EPISODE-RELATED RESOURCES:

Startup-Investor Matching Tool

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses 

How To Fail Faster -- And Why You Should 

Can adopting a "fail fast" culture accelerate the success of innovation and transformation programs 

Don't Fail Fast, Fail Smart 

EMAIL US:

[email protected]

Monica Wheat, managing director of Techstars Equitech (+ founder/investor/so much more), joins TFR as its first guest. She discusses her journey building ventures and driving the Detroit entrepreneurial ecosystem (and beyond) forward, as well as the importance of diversity and inclusion from both the founder and funder perspectives.

CONNECT WITH US

Monica Wheat - https://www.techstars.com/the-line/eq... , https://www.venturecatalysts.co  | Dominique Golden | Isha Naik - https://www.treeo.co

TFR'S FOUNDER RESOURCE PICKS: We'll be updating this section with our favorite content related our episode topics and links that are useful for founders, so stay tuned for more! NFX Ventures Podcast x Iman Abuzeid (founder + CEO of Incredible Health), How Women of Color Are Using Equity Crowdfunding to Achieve Success in the Tech World, Startup-Investor Matching Tool, Fearless Fund (built by women of color, for women of color), Create & Cultivate