The Startup Catalyst

In today’s episode, we’ll hear from Brittney Riley, the former VP of U.S. ventures for Village Capital.

Brittney Riley doesn’t fit your typical venture capitalist stereotype of an older man in a suit. One of the youngest members of the Village Capital team, Brittney used her grit and newfound passion for startups and business development to break the VC glass ceiling after a successful career as a serial entrepreneur.

In today’s episode, we find out what catalyzed her entrepreneurial success while at the University of Washington, and how opening a restaurant with her brother showed her the changemaking ability of starting a business. After successfully exiting two tech startups, Brittney moved across the world to India for her next game changing adventure in venture capital. Tune in to find out how Brittney stays cool under pressure, and why she’s taking a break from investing

The Startup Catalyst® Podcast is back! Sultan Ventures is launching Season 2 with an important and timely theme: inclusivity in the startup and venture capital community. We're kicking things off with one of the most influential women in entrepreneurship and tech: Kathryn Finney, founder of digitalundivided.

Kathryn has been a changemaker in the industry for nearly two decades via her roles as a tech entrepreneur, social media innovator, and investor.

In today's episode, we'll hear how she got her start in entrepreneurship at a young age, from her lucrative friendship bracelet business in elementary school, to cornering the hair-braiding market at Yale, and her pioneering fashion blog in the early days of the internet. Kathryn risked her career and personal finances to create digitalundivided (DID), an incubator focused on accelerating entrepreneurship for black and latinx founders. Tune-in to find out why she’s so passionate about the power of women owning their work.

Today, we’ll hear from Aaron Walker, Founder and CEO of Camelback Ventures.

Focused on increasing diversity in the startup ecosystem by addressing the many inequities of entrepreneurship and education, Camelback Ventures is shifting the landscape and helping underrepresented founders get their shot. We’ll find out what led Aaron down his path to become a visionary CEO, from his days as a public school teacher in West Philadelphia, to selecting his fourth group of fellows. Aaron shares with us his vision as a CEO, built upon the lessons he's learned along the way that have allowed him to overcome the odds and make a positive change in the industry. Plus, we’ll find out the number one thing he says every aspiring entrepreneur should learn in order to be successful.

Today's guest is Julie Lenzer, Co-director of UM Ventures and Associate Vice President of Innovation and Economic Development. 

Before leading the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the EDA, Julie built a reputation as someone who gets S#!& done. From her early days in Dallas, to spearheading innovation at UM Ventures, Julie has always managed to embrace life's hurdles and turn the negative into a positive. Find out how she got involved in tech, and what she's doing to empower her daughters, women, and minorities across the country.

Somebody has to tell entrepreneurs when their baby is ugly. Today’s guest isn’t afraid to tell founders the harsh truths that face their businesses. Join us as we hear from Kirstie Chadwick, President & CEO of InBIA.

As a pioneer in the tech industry, Kirstie got her first taste of #StartupLife when she joined a software company in the early years before they went public. When everyone else went to Silicon Valley during the 90s dot com boom, Kirstie stayed in Florida and managed to forge a career from the East Coast. Find out how she wound up leading InBIA, a global network of incubators, accelerators and other entrepreneurial support organizations with over 2,200 members. Plus, hear why some people call her the Ice Queen.

Today’s guest is Samson Williams. A partner and co-founder at Axes & Eggs, Samson is the internet's go-to cryptocurrency, blockchain, and crowdfunding expert.

Growing up in rural Texas, no one was expected to make it further than the edge of town. Samson Williams not only left Texas, but made a name for himself across the world for his no-nonsense problem-solving abilities and financial expertise.

Tune in to today’s episode to hear about the Washington D.C. resident who travels around the world, advising startups and companies on everything they need to know about innovation, blockchain, technology, and crowdfunding.

We’ll hear how a half-black, half-mexican guy from Texas became the official Irish Ambassador for crowdfunding to the EU. Plus, find out why he thinks Amazon will soon launch their very own cryptocurrency token, and why that could catalyze change for the U.S. government.

In today’s episode, we’ll hear from Brittney Riley, the former VP of U.S. ventures for Village Capital.

Brittney Riley doesn’t fit your typical venture capitalist stereotype of an older man in a suit. One of the youngest members of the Village Capital team, Brittney used her grit and newfound passion for startups and business development to break the VC glass ceiling after a successful career as a serial entrepreneur.

In today’s episode, we find out what catalyzed her entrepreneurial success while at the University of Washington, and how opening a restaurant with her brother showed her the changemaking ability of starting a business. After successfully exiting two tech startups, Brittney moved across the world to India for her next game changing adventure in venture capital. Tune in to find out how Brittney stays cool under pressure, and why she’s taking a break from investing.

The Startup Catalyst® Podcast is back! Sultan Ventures is launching Season 2 with an important and timely theme: inclusivity in the startup and venture capital community. We're kicking things off with one of the most influential women in entrepreneurship and tech: Kathryn Finney, founder of digitalundivided.

Kathryn has been a changemaker in the industry for nearly two decades via her roles as a tech entrepreneur, social media innovator, and investor.

In today's episode, we'll hear how she got her start in entrepreneurship at a young age, from her lucrative friendship bracelet business in elementary school, to cornering the hair-braiding market at Yale, and her pioneering fashion blog in the early days of the internet. Kathryn risked her career and personal finances to create digitalundivided (DID), an incubator focused on accelerating entrepreneurship for black and latinx founders. Tune-in to find out why she’s so passionate about the power of women owning their work.

Aloha podcast world, this is the Startup Catalyst Podcast, the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stories and catalysts of their startup successes and failures.

Today we’ll be flipping the script and guest host Tarik sultan will be interviewing Luke in our Season 1 Finale of The Startup Catalyst Podcast.

Luke has a decade of experience working with small businesses and startups with a career ranging from commercial banking, mobile app development, as well as marketing and operations.

We’ll hear all about his work ranging from his journey from HPU to Central Pacific Bank and how he made the leap from the corporate world to entrepreneurship where Luke and I first met. Since then, Luke has gone on to Found companies including Ritify, a Blue Startups portfolio company mentored by Henk Rogers of Tetris fame and Aloha Squared, a boutique fashion outlet creating made in Hawaii pocket squares.

Hello there! This is the Startup catalyst podcast brought to you by Sultan Ventures, the show where we interview entrepreneurs and investors on the stories and catalysts of their startup successes and failures hosted by Luke Tucker.

Today’s episode we welcome Ross Baird, Founder and CEO at Village Capital.

One of the most amazing stories, I think, in venture these days is the Vilcap Story.

You’re going to hear some things not available anywhere else as Ross goes through some awesome stories. Including, a dinner party in Rome with some famous actors. Stick around for that, you don’t want to miss that story!

A few nuggets in the show: the maximum 3-digit Fibonacci sequence number (bet you can’t guess the number right now), the thesis of leveraging the collective knowledge, what are “2 pocket thinkers”, and what’s next for Vilcap!

So much good stuff.

So guys, enjoy your commute to the office or quick gym session while you listen, but make sure you remember to take some notes fr