The Manila Folder

Sarah Hodges is a Partner for the early stage venture capital firm Pillar.

If you sat down with Sarah two years ago and asked if she'd want to become a venture capitalist, she would have shaken her head and said, "Absolutely not!" But she changed her mind after having a heartfelt conversation about Pillar's mission and values with founder and VC veteran, Jamie Goldstein.

In Today's Episode You'll Hear

• How Sarah made the transition from corporate, to founder to venture capitalist.
• How startup founders should prepare to have a conversation with a venture capitalist and what they can do to knock it out of the park.
• Why Pillar wants to be anything but a traditional VC firm by building a company that focuses on alignment, relationships and support for founders.
• How venture capital contributes to innovation
• Why Sarah is going all-in on the Boston tech ecosystem and what they have that Silicon Valley does not.

Full show notes at www.themanilafolder.net/pillar-venture-capital

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On this episode you'll hear from Stephan Schambach. Serial entrepreneur and eCommerce pioneer. 

You'll hear:

- How Stephan developed the first standard software for online shopping

- What he believes is the future of retail

- About his new startup, NewStore, and how they are on the forefront of disrupting the retail industry

Full show notes at http://themanilafolder.net/making-retail-great-again/

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter & Facebook

Inspired to create an organization that focuses on positive social change, Kimberly founded Black Girls CODE, a non-profit that teaches young girls from underrepresented communities computer programming.

Her mission is to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.

So far, so good.

Since 2011, Black Girls CODE, with the support of organizations such as ThoughtWorks, General Motors, and Lyft has reached more than 3,000 students.

And they're just getting started.

On This Episode

• You'll hear what led Kimberly to launch Black Girls CODE
• Why she believes the pipeline is not "the" problem preventing companies from hiring diverse talent
• Why she has hope for the future

Read the complete show notes here

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Fair.com is disrupting the car buying experience and car ownership itself.

I chat with co-founder and Executive Vice President of Brand, Jennifer Parke to understand how Fair is disrupting the automotive industry and how she approaches branding for an innovative tech company. 

On This Episode You'll Hear

Jennifer and I talk about her experience in advertising working with some of the biggest names in retail, telecommunications and technology. You'll hear how Fair works and why they're betting big on a change in consumer preferences.

She'll also talk about their name, Fair, and what implications it has on their values, culture and how they do business.

Full show notes www.themanilafolder.net/fair-car

Why is the standard work week 40 hours?

How many hours per day are we truly productive at work? 

Stephan Aarstol, CEO of Tower Paddle Boards (A Mark Cuban Shark Tank investment) believes most people squander the 40 hours they have each week.

So, he changed his company hours (and the schedule of all employees) to 8AM - 1PM. 

Hear his story of the 5 Hour Workday

Full show notes on http://themanilafolder.net/the-5-hour-workday/

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Stephan's experience on Shark Tank
• How employees responded to a drastic schedule change
• What worked and what didn't
• How you can try a short work day at your company

The days of diversity being a checkbox or report that human resources sends to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is over. The risks are far too great for it to be an initiative that's driven solely by one department. CEOs must take ownership of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and drive it throughout the organization.

Or risk a Travis Kalanick.

Everyone talks until they're blue in the face on "why" it's important.  Let's start talking about how you can actually make it work.

On This Episode

On this episode of the podcast, I brought in someone who understands the why and the how. Jessica Jones is the Vice President of People and Brand for Clearlink.  They are a marketing, sales and technology services company based in Salt Lake City, UT.

According to Jessica and their website, their culture and their people are their advantage.

Jessica has significant experience running HR and Talent teams for technology companies. And she has seen first hand what works and what doesn't when it comes to creating a diversity program for a large company.

While Clearlink is still a work in progress, with Jessica's leadership and ingenuity, they have made a lot of headway. And she wants to tell you what they've learned, what has worked and what failed miserably.

All with the hope that you will take action in your own company.

On this episode you'll hear:

• Get comfortable having an uncomfortable conversation
• Educate your employees (Where to start)
• Where to look for diverse talent
• You need an effective recruiting plan

Read the full show notes here

Recruiters are idiots.

So are hiring managers.

As a former recruiter and hiring manger I resent those statements. But if you go to Google and type in "recruiters are" or "hiring managers are" you will see how the search engine feels about the two.

OK, it's not Google per se, rather people like you and me who are typing phrases into the search engine. Evidently, enough people are typing in statements versus questions. What do you think their intent is?

On this episode you'll hear from Brianna Rooney, CEO of Techees, a San Francisco based recruiting firm. She'll talk about her experience hiring for some of the hottest technology companies in San Francisco. 

What You'll Hear

• The 1 thing 70% of companies do that creates a horrible candidate experience
• How long it should take you to fill a position
• What companies can do to improve the process
• Brianna's guess for the future of recruiting

Chris Hallberg is a military veteran, entrepreneur and business coach nick named, The Business Sergeant. 

He draws on his experience in the U.S. National Guard and work as a correctional officer to give action packed advice on how to change your organization for the better.

As you can imagine from someone named "The Business Sergeant", Chris has a no nonsense approach to addressing the many issues plaguing businesses today.

But, and he promises, his approach doesn't include yelling or dreaded push-ups.

Instead, it's about understanding who you are, what you value and backing up what you say with action.

What You'll Hear

• How working at an underground maximum security prison taught Chris how to communicate effectively
• Why you must decide if you want to "opt-in" to your company or unsubscribe
• How to determine the core values of your company

Complete show notes & Core Values Exercise can be found HERE

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If any of this is important to you: 

• A new job, a raise or a promotion
• Starting a business
• Becoming a thought leader, board member or influencer
• Getting more clients
• Recognition at work

If any of this is important to you, you must build your personal brand.

[Head to www.themanilafolder.net for full show notes]

What Is A Personal Brand

A personal brand aligns who you are, your values, your skills and your interests with your goals. It's your value proposition and how you market yourself. 

On this episode you will hear from Bruce Kasanoff, a ghost writer and one of the first and most well-known LinkedIn Influencers.

What You'll Hear

• Why a personal brand is important if you want success
• How to start building your personal brand
• How to get social media posts to spread
• Why authenticity is key

There's a thriving community of backpack lovers on Kickstarter. Early adopting, urban nomads who love travel, being prepared, and looking stylish while riding a rented city bike. Forever searching for the perfect accessory to load up their things and knickknacks too.

In true entrepreneurial form, today's guest, Jacob Durham, and his cousin Jon Richards, saw there was a massive thirst for the perfect backpack.

So they made it.

And in the process launched a campaign that would become the 2nd most funded backpack campaign on Kickstarter. 

This is the story of Nomatic Backpacks. 

Click HERE for the complete show notes

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