Startup Life Show With Ande Lyons

Courageous and compassionate conversations are the seeds that lead to cultural change, especially within the workplace.For over 10 years our guest, social impact startup founder Marie Roker-Jones, has been leading gender and racial diversity strategies to create cultural change. A seasoned founder, Marie is the co-Ceo of Essteem, a platform that organizes Equalithons (hackathons for equality), a first-of-its-kind, virtual DEI events that connect tech companies that uphold diversity and inclusion commitments to underrepresented tech talent who want to work for those companies.As the founder of Raising Great Men, Marie built a movement for parents, empowering them with resources to raise culturally aware and socially conscious children. She was the senior editor for The Good Men Project, a multimedia, cross-platform site that asks, “What does it mean to be a good man in the 21st century?”Marie also has workforce and career development experience creating workforce re-entry programs for underrepresented communit

Taking a recipe and scaling it for mass production, especially when it has a shelf-life, is one of the hardest business models to start.Our guest, JimmyTay Trinh, is the founder of Naturally Noah’s, a food business providing an array of delicious, vegan instant pho noodle soups.JimmyTay and his family members were suffering from chronic illnesses and obesity. While they loved consuming pho noodles, JimmyTay knew the instant soups on the shelf were toxic – filled with high levels of sodium and saturated fat.A former restauranteur who honed his craft at the Culinary Institute of America, JimmyTay knew he could create a healthy, vegan version of pho noodles that would help his family and other folks lead healthier, sustainable lives.He created a delicious variety of instant pho soups, figured out how to scale the recipes, designed the packaging, secured proper nutritional labeling, beta tested in local stores, learned how to mass produce the recipes, and Naturally Noah’s is now a nationally distributed food prod

No employee should have to choose between work and family.Providing access to trusted care and earning a living rate for delivering that trusted care is a problem that needed solving.Our guest, Anita Gardyne, is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Onēva, a company she co-founded in 2014 to solve this problem.Onēva reimagines the career for caregivers while providing an enticing and essential employer-provided benefit to client employees.Anita, a working mother and caregiver to her mom, faced her own frustrations in finding trusted care for her family through the existing marketplace. Believing access to trusted care AND earning a living rate for delivering quality, professional care are human rights, she went to work. Anita collaborated with Microsoft to build Onēva’s technology platform, welcoming them as the system’s first customer in 2016. Onēva now plays a critical role in providing access to safety compliant in-home care for businesses, customers and caregivers. A technology business visionary, Anita is

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. - Kahlil GibranAfter spending twenty-two years in and out of correctional institutions, our guest, Quan Huynh, was paroled from a life sentence in 2015 and created his first company six months later.Described as a mighty warrior, a magician, and a mountain of goodness, Quan is the bestselling author of Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence. Quan is also the senior post release program manager for Defy Ventures, a non-profit helping those with a criminal past transform their lives through the journey of entrepreneurship. Defy Ventures’ entrepreneurial programs enable one of America’s largest forgotten communities to defy the odds. Its entrepreneurs-in-training accelerator program provides the skillsets and mentoring needed to launch a business.In 2016 Quan received the Peace Fellowship Award for his work with the Alternatives to Violence Project. He’s been feature

Gaming for Good – how wonderful is that?!Our guest, Mariam Nusrat, is the Founder of GRID - Gaming Revolution for International Development, a tech start-up that aims to unleash the power of video games to educate, engage and empower people for positive behavior change. GRID is powered by a global team of young professionals who share a passion for video games and social change. They have created games on reproductive health, climate change, health pandemics, animal welfare and STEM learning and have games in the pipeline on child abuse, financial literacy and skills for the future. GRID grew as a Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) Commitment to Action and has been featured twice on the CGIU stage in sessions moderated by President Bill Clinton.The team is currently building Breshna - a no-code platform that creates video games with no-code, at low cost and lightning speed.Mariam, an Education Specialist at the World Bank, believes in the power of young people, especially women, and has a vision of a

Are you ready to launch your consumer brand business and wondering how to make a splash that results in solid sales results without breaking your marketing budget?Our guest, Joselin Mane – Founder & CEO of LITBel Consulting and Boston TweetUp – is a marketing strategist that leverages engineering principles to guarantee marketing results using his proven MMT method.Joselin has been helping consumer brands increase their profits while also decreasing their costs by strategizing, building, and optimizing proven sale and marketing funnels within 90 days.Working with companies like Toyota, Dreamworks Studios, Indochino, Warner Bros., Eventbrite, and Cadillac, Joselin knows how to leverage online marketing technology to streamline digital marketing and social strategies and organize and promote events for long term sales growth.In 2009 he launched Boston TweetUp and single handedly developed a network of over 100 Boston area event partners while managing the most socially active event calendar and promotional

Are you seeking funding for your startup and struggling to connect with the right people and resources because you don’t fit traditional pattern matching?Our guest, Allison Byers, founded Scroobious, a pitch video platform for under networked founders to be discovered by the right investors with the right message in the right way.With an MBA and 15+ years' experience building and leading startups, Allison has previously raised nearly $10M, and she has deep experience utilizing data to understand human behavior, strategic planning, fundraising, and product management.Allison adds so much value to founders during our conversation, especially if you're raising capital. When you submit a pitch deck or one-pager to an investor or Angel Group, it can feel impersonal.I mean, how can they tell you’re uniquely qualified to successfully build your business from words and images on a PowerPoint presentation?Allison shares how Scroobious helps you break down the barriers to finding funding through its Pitch it Plan - a s

When you launch a startup, staying focused on critical path activities can be a challenge. Especially when you are transitioning from an Employee mindset to an Entrepreneur mindset.Our Guest, Drew Duperval, is a serial entrepreneur and a startup consultant helping entrepreneurs monetize their passion, start their business, and manifest their 5-year vision.He’s the founder of Young Hustlers Under 40, otherwise known as YHU40 (@yhunder40), a business and personal development network for entrepreneurs dedicated to helping founders save time, scale their businesses, and expand their network through events and accountability coaching. Drew's passion is to help startups, freelancers and 1st Gen business owners organize their ideas and businesses. He has consulted with dozens of entrepreneurs (barbershops, salons, restaurants, consultants, etc), and spoken to hundreds of students, parents, and entrepreneurs at various events around the East Coast.In his “free time” Drew hosts the Scale your Business podcast and volu

Are you the type of person who values doing everything on your own? Do you avoid asking for help because you believe it makes you appear weak and inexperienced?How’s that working for you?Our guest, Elayne Fluker, is author of the new book, Get Over "I Got It" (HarperCollins Leadership), where she encourages unapologetically ambitious women to learn how to embrace support not only for their success, but also their peace of mind. As a speaker at organizations such as LinkedIn, the United Nations, the Women Presidents’ Organization, NYU, Columbia, Spelman College and Howard University, Elayne gives women a roadmap for making empowered asks and living a fulfilled life. Elayne is also host of the Support is Sexy podcast where she has interviewed more than 500 diverse women entrepreneurs around the world, and she is founder of SiS.Academy -- an online learning platform educating and empowering Black Women entrepreneurs. Elayne shares her founder journey/startup stories along with outstanding advice to help you embr

Diverse founders continue to face significant challenges when raising capital to grow and scale their companies.Zane Venture Fund is changing the landscape of venture capital by supporting underrepresented founders in their quest to create thriving sustainable businesses that provide generational wealth opportunities for their families and their communities.Comprised of a diverse team of operators, engineers, and advisories, Zane Venture invests in exceptional talent who are building tech-enabled solutions across the Southeast.To increase the success rate for first-time founders, the Zane Venture Team created Zane Access, the programmatic vehicle that delivers the access underrepresented founders need to build sustainable businesses and generational wealth. This includes access to peers, business experts, mentors, and investors.Stefanie Diaz is a partner at Zane Venture Fund and Chair of the Board for Zane Access, two organizations founded to address the $4 trillion opportunity, largely untapped, diverse team

Are you frustrated trying to find the right clinician, therapist, or practitioner, when and where you need them, for your health plan and budget?Our guest, Riley Rees, is the Founder and CEO of Sofia Health, an online marketplace connecting consumers to health and wellness practitioners.A civilian and commercial pilot, a United States Air Force Veteran, and a combat medic turned C-17 pilot, Riley understands the frustration of finding the right care, when and where you need it.As a pilot, she was forced to travel and live an unpredictable schedule, which made the search and scheduling process painful and time consuming.Sofia Health removes the barriers to make it easier to find a provider and address your health and wellness needs: mentally, physically, and spiritually.During our delicious conversation, Riley shared outstanding advice, including:* how to create an MVP without spending a fortune* the best pricing strategy and tactics* her customer acquisition and traction insights* how daily meditation and exe

Does a tech startup really need venture capital to grow and scale? Our guest, Ethan Anthony, shares his advice and insights to show how you can build your tech business without traditional funding.Ethan is the Founder & CEO of CrankChart, a company using conversational AI and behavioral sciences to seamlessly keep decision makers lockstep with data professionals - with the goal of using data to drive business success. Ethan can be best described as a self-taught voracious reader and highly motivated problem solver. He spent half of his adult life in the Fareast, fully immersed in the Chinese culture and language. While a grad student at Harvard, Ethan became a published author of 3 technical books. He has also spent over 10 years serving the world with his technical visionary and problem solving brilliance, and is an authority on combining behavioral psychology and behavioral economics with emerging tech to solve big problems at scale.Ethan dives deep into how you can bootstrap your tech startup and he di

Launching a large-scale, multi-media platform focused on making entrepreneurship the next spectator sport, while simultaneously democratizing private markets is an audacious mission.Our guest, Mona DeFrawi, is the ideal founder for this initiative. She’s a serial entrepreneur who has been a team member of 10 startups over three decades, the last four as Founder & CEO.Mona pioneered the first Private Market platform, which initiated the "Unicorn" investing trend in Silicon Valley (acquired by SecondMarket and further acquired by the NASDAQ Private Markets).Over her career, Mona has raised or participated in the placement of over $6 Billion+ of VC, PE and LP funding. Mona has been recognized as one of Forbes' "Most Powerful Women in Technology," and as one of the "Top 100 Women in Fintech.”Mona took her vision of democratizing the Private Markets and created Radivision, a platform that connects consumer audiences with the startup ecosystem, to make entrepreneurship the next spectator sport.You will LOVE mee

Do you enjoy making purchases that go toward mission-driven brands by diverse founders?Our guest, Minette Yu, is the founder of StoreyLine, an ecommerce platform that empowers socially conscious brands and consumers to connect more efficiently through a personalized, experiential marketplace.StoreyLine is not just an online shop. Every time you make a purchase, StoreyLine contributes up to 20% of the purchase towards the StoreyLine Fund for under-funded, minority-owned brands. It also asks brand and community partners to match the donation! You will be able to vote for who receives the grant, so you'll literally be "voting with your wallet."Minette is a first-generation immigrant, daughter of a seamstress, and the first in her community to go on to Harvard. Having launched retail tech products her whole career, Minette is passionate about challenging the status quo, elevating under-represented founders and making it frictionless for shoppers to make a social impact with their dollars.Minette shares the best f

Are you raising capital during the pandemic? Our guest, David Chang, is the ideal advisor to help founders navigate the tumultuous fundraising landscape.David is an entrepreneur and angel investor who has held operating roles at six startups (5 were acquired!), and he has invested in 60 companies.As a leader in the entrepreneurship community, David holds several advisor/board memberships, and he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School and Director of the Babson Summer Venture Program.Earlier in his career, David led the PayPal Boston office, co-founded the Start Tank innovation space, and he held roles at TripAdvisor (IAC), m-Qube (Verisign), edocs (Siebel), SnapMyLife (Exclaim Mobility), and Goldman Sachs.He recently formed an Angel group, TBD Angels, which has invested in 11 startups since April, 2020!David dives deep into best practices for raising funds during a pandemic, including:* how to socialize to fill your investor funnel* why you don't want to ask for money* how to present milesto

The world of social audio apps is having a “Big Bang” moment.Can a six-person company find a way to differentiate its product, survive, and win?Our guest, Zeeshan (Zee) Sheikh, is the Founder and CEO of Space, an audio-as-a-service platform that enables you to add clubhouse style audio-chat directly to your product, under your brand, where your customers already are.While working as a Senior Director of Emerging Technologies at Everbridge, Zee had been playing around with an audio app idea since 2018. After several iterations, he caught the eye of Jason Calacanis and other investors, providing enough capital for Zee to go full time in September 2020.Calacanis invested in Space because of Zee’s approach to selling social audio to businesses, rather than hustling to get consumers to embrace it, as Clubhouse, Twitter, and others are doing.For almost 20 years Zee has been entrenched in the emerging tech world, with several entrepreneurial adventures to his credit. His deep experience with leading and building glo

How do you launch, brand, build and distribute a 100% clean and ethical product line in the crowded wellness space? Especially when its primary ingredient is CBD?Our guest, Davina Kaonohi is the CEO and Co-Founder of ELĒMENT APOTHĒC, an innovative and purpose driven consumer brand focused on CBD-infused wellness and body care products, combining the healing powers of nature with the ingenuity of innovation in science. With a deep passion for creating good in the world, Davina’s vast experience in team building, branding, business strategy and operational management, along with her seasoned background as a founder and community builder, uniquely qualifies her to lead ELĒMENT APOTHĒC.Davina take us on a "broad spectrum" tour of her full spectrum CBD CPG startup journey:* name creation* brand promise* product sourcing* B Corp filing* packaging* manufacturing* Cost of Goods Sold* distribution00:00​ - Meet Davina and hear her full circle cannabis story featuring her Dad10:55​ - Origin Story for ELĒMENT APOTHĒC - h

Are you a diverse tech founder seeking capital and mentorship support for your startup?A massive amount of talent is dying on the vine when 2.2% of all VC funding goes to female founding teams and less than 2% to racially diverse founders.Yasmin Cruz Ferrine is changing the playing field for diverse founders. She's the General Partner at Visible Hands VC, a pre-seed fund dedicated to diverse tech founders. Their 14-week, virtual-first fellowship program supports overlooked talent in building technology startups by providing company-building services and investments of up to $200k.Each founder receives meaningful funding, support with finding a co-founder, and access to an incredible network of advisors, customers, and investors.Yasmin has 15 years of experience leading philanthropic investment strategies and advising foundations, responsible for deploying over $1 billion.She has served as Finance Director for Governor Deval Patrick’s TogetherFUND and 2020 presidential campaign, and she’s led New England busin

I often hear founders say “it was easier to raise capital than find top talent for my startup.”If you're ready to scale your business and assemble an aligned talented team and create an outstanding employee culture, you will find the best advice from this delicious conversation with Jill Katz!She's the Founder and Chief Change Officer of Assemble HR Consulting, a boutique Human Resources firm that focuses on Culture, Communication and Conflict in the workplace. Jill is a seasoned human capital expert, facilitator, and executive coach with more than 20 years of success in the fashion, retail, digital technology, media, and banking industries. She has extensive experience in large-scale organizational design projects, including the selection and placement of top talent, along with the communication and rollout strategies to manage effective change. Jill shares sensational stories and lessons from her lived experience, including:* the transition from corporate to founder* raising children while raising a busines

Is your startup legally sound and protected? Are you sure?Our guest, Sankeetha Selvarajah, is the Managing Attorney of Selvarajah Law P.C., a civil transactional firm located in Boston and New York. Her clients are within the cannabis, technology, real estate, food service, e-commerce sectors as well as, retail manufacturers.She is also the Founder of STARTUP DOX, a Done-With-You platform designed to assist founders with cost-effective legal options for Corporate formation and document generation, all with Attorney Review.Sankeetha shares valuable business advice for new business owners to help them create a sustainable, profitable business, along with explanations of typical legal documentation. She also shares the most common mistakes newbie founders make and must avoid!To learn more about Sankeetha's outstanding startup legal services (hire her!), please visit: https://selvalaw.com​ and https://www.thestartupdox.com/​DISCLAIMER: Folks: This recorded conversation is for informational purposes only and is no