Ever since we began this podcast in 2019, we’ve been focused on uncovering the truth behind entrepreneurship. Through many conversations with founders, self-starters, and people who think outside the box, we’ve heard about the ups-and-downs of branching out on your own and building something new. Those conversations have always been focused on the guest sitting across the table from us, but in a way, we’ve been on our own entrepreneurial journey as well. We’ve grown our podcast from a kitchen table to a full recording studio, added some fantastic additions to our team, and have risen to be in the top 2% of all podcasts worldwide. Always with an eye on the future, we’ve been brainstorming ways in which we can keep expanding and growing. One idea we couldn’t shake out of our heads was the concept for a new podcast tracing the route that your coffee travels from seed to cup. I assure you, it’s a very complex global industry that involves much more than meets the eye. So much more, in fact, that we started thinking along bigger lines. We thought a subject as fascinating as this would benefit from a multi-tiered approach, one with a docu-series serving up all the beautiful imagery and emotional journeys of the coffee farmers in remote jungles all over the world accompanied by a podcast that offers a deeper dive into each episode. This episode is dedicated to showing you a glimpse of that creative process, as we hash out this concept in more detail. It also provides a real-time look into our own entrepreneurial journey.
#0112 - Jun Lee - Nabis
Today’s guest is Jun Lee, co-founder of the cannabis wholesale distribution company Nabis. To anyone even remotely paying attention, it’s clear that the public perception of cannabis is rapidly changing. To date, cannabis is legal for recreational use in 18 states, plus D.C., while another 13 states have decriminalized its use. The winds of change are blowing, and they’re headed towards legalization on a national level. The only question is how long it will be until we get there. For many though, the race towards market domination began long ago. Jun saw a budding industry with loads of untapped potential back in 2017 when he founded Nabis. In just four short years he’s taken the company from a single van making once-a-week shipping runs to serving over 100 cannabis brands and almost 100% of California’s licensed weed retailers.
Listen in as we cover everything from why he had to initially hide his career choice from his parents, why big shipping companies like FedEx haven’t gotten into cannabis distribution, and why there’s no brand loyalty in the cannabis market.
#0111 - Sashee Chandran - Tea Drops
Today’s guest is Sashee Chandran, founder of Tea Drops. She found a way to eliminate the tea bag by pressing tea into fun little shapes. Just drop them in hot water, et violà! You’ve got tea. What’s most impressive about Sashee’s story is not that she found a way to eliminate the tea bag, but that she shows how to build a successful company through incremental progress and learning from mistakes along the way. There was no “aha!” moment, just a series of steps that eventually led to her running a national brand and raising millions of dollars in VC funding.
Listen in as we cover everything from why she initially wanted to sell customizable made-to-order cookies, tips for digital marketing both in the present and future, and how Chrissy Tiegen became her company’s biggest fan.
#0110 - Sarah Lee & Christine Chang - Glow Recipe
Today’s guests are Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, co-founders of the K-beauty-inspired Glow Recipe. In this age of globalization and cross-cultural influence, it certainly seems like South Korea is having its moment in the sun. Between K-Pop, Korean BBQ, and K-beauty, South Korean culture is really taking the world by storm. Christine and Sarah met while they were working for L’Oréal in Korea, but it wasn’t until they had moved to New York City that they saw the potential in being a distributor for K-beauty products in the states. It wasn’t long before the American consumer was snatching up everything they offered, and ever the savvy entrepreneurs, they capitalized on this success to dive into manufacturing their own products as well.
Listen in as we cover everything from how there’s no one-size-fits-all skin type and therefore no one-size-fits-all skincare, why the beauty industry needs to stop using unrealistic terms like pore-less and flawless, and we take a deep dive into their Shark Tank experience; how they struck a deal with Robert and why they ended up walking away from that deal after the episode aired.
#0109 - Sarah Sommers - IFundWomen
Today’s guest is Sarah Sommers, a co-founder of the crowd-funding and entrepreneurial resource center IFundWomen. There are a lot of places you can go online in order to crowd-fund your next venture, but IFundWomen doesn’t just give female entrepreneurs access to capital, they also provide coaching and help foster connections that are vital for any new enterprise to thrive and grow. In the world of startups there exists a gender disparity in access to funds and mentors. Bridging this gap is the main driving force behind IFundWomen.
Listen in as we cover everything from why pitches should be concise, efficient, personal, and data-driven; why she hopes to see more pregnant women building businesses; and how she ended up on the streets of New York City pitching her company to confused tourists outside of the Broadway musical Hamilton.
#0108 - Diana Nyad
Today’s guest is the one and only Diana Nyad. The author, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer has swum around the island of Manhattan, from the Bahamas to Florida, and most famously from Cuba to Key West. She is the first person to have ever done that swim without the assistance of a shark cage. She defied intense currents, venomous jellyfish, and even her own age in order to complete the 111-mile open water swim. Even though Diana is the epitome of the phrase “you can accomplish anything you set your mind to”, she’ll be the first to tell you that it doesn’t always come easily. It often requires heartbreaking failure time and time again before you finally achieve victory. She is very candid about the struggles of running her EverWalk foundation, but if her past is any indication of her future, the smart money is always on Diana.
Listen in as we cover everything from drawing her inspiration from those who are alive and engaged with the world around them, how she lost her direction in life during her career as a sportscaster, and she even shows off her skills on a bugle.
#0107 - Cass & Andrew Walker - Little West
Today’s guests are Cass and Andrew Walker, husband and wife duo, and co-founders of cold-pressed juice company Little West. Their journey began with their wedding—or more accurately—using the money they would’ve spent on their wedding to start Little West. They got some space in a yoga studio and threw themselves into making juice. They’ll be the first to tell you that they knew absolutely nothing about running a commercial juice business, but Cass and Andrew dedicated everything they had to learn and master their craft. Their story is one of perseverance and grit which has paid off in numerous ways, not least of which is selling their company to PlantX.
Listen in as we cover everything from the lessons learned in taking bad loans to float their business, drinking coffee in the morning, juice at noon, and wine at night, and why the number one rule of running a business is to invest in marketing.
#0106 - Muralist & Artist - James Peter Henry
Today’s guest is James Peter Henry, the artist best known for painting the mural in our very own studio! Ok, maybe that’s not his most famous piece of work, but it’s certainly up there in our books. James grew up on a farm in rural Australia, about five hours outside of Melbourne. As he explored the property as a kid, he discovered a set of caves that were adorned with Aboriginal paintings and drawings. These fascinated him and would go on to influence his work all throughout his life. The Aboriginal artists were painting on the walls of the cave in order to pass down stories. Each of James’ pieces today reflects this notion of art as a vessel for storytelling, but instead of being featured on the walls of caves, they’ve been projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House.
Listen in as we cover everything from why he almost talked himself out of his career, why he considers his paintings to be similar to real estate, and how his darkest moment came when he accidentally spilled five gallons of black paint on himself.
#0105 - Comedian/Actress/Writer- Hannah Pilkes
Today’s guest is Hannah Pilkes, the comedienne, actress, and writer. Hannah got her start in the Kevin Bacon drama The Woodsman. If you’re familiar with that movie you’ll know it’s about as far from comedy as a movie can get. But acting in the movie was enough to reinforce Hannah’s love for performing, and though it took a while, she did eventually find her own voice and a following on Vine. Thankfully, Hannah’s career has lasted much longer than the platform that launched her. She continues to reach a wide audience today through her stand-up performances, comedy skits on social media, and is even writing and developing a tv show.
Listen in as we cover everything from why she doesn’t consider what she writes to be jokes, how she’s managed to continuously promote her activism alongside her comedy, and why she thinks 80% of standup in the midwest should probably cease to exist.
#0104 - Modamily- Ivan Fatovic
Today’s guest is Ivan Fatovic, founder of Modamily. Modamily is a mashup of the words “modern family”, and Ivan is working to redefine what that means in modern culture. This country as well as many around the world have long held up the ideals of the nuclear family as something to strive for. The problem with that is for many, that ideal ranges anywhere from undesirable to unachievable. And for those of us who want to have children outside of the “boy meets girl, they fall in love, they have kids” framework, the path was often complicated and almost never easy. Modamily is a service that allows people to meet like-minded individuals and have kids without necessarily developing a romantic connection. And while it probably won’t be the end of Western Civilization as we know it, it is undeniably groundbreaking.
Listen in as we cover everything from how Ivan defines the modern family, why he considers Modamily a hybrid between dating apps and the fertility industry, and why choosing who you have kids with is the most important decision you’ll make in your life.
#0103 - Chemist Confessions - New Book Launch!
Returning to the show today are Victoria Fu and Gloria Lu, co-founders of Chemist Confessions and authors of the new book Skincare Decoded: The Practical Guide to Beautiful Skin. When we last spoke with Victoria and Gloria, they were busy running an online skincare platform and developing new skincare products. Somehow in the middle of all that, they managed to squeeze in writing a book as well. If you ask them, they initially thought it wouldn’t be much more than repackaging everything they’d already written on their blog. They couldn’t have been more wrong. But the same effort and care that they’ve put into their blog went into their book, and as a result, sales are spiking.
Listen in as we cover everything from having to navigate the launch of the book on their own, why Gloria’s excitement about finding her book at her local bookstore was not shared by the cashier, and what humans have in common with guinea pigs when it comes to skincare.
#0102 - Genius Juice - Alex Bayer
Today’s guest is Alex Bayer, founder of Genius Juice. Alex hasn’t always been an entrepreneur, but he has picked up several valuable skills along the way that have given him a leg up when he did decide to start out on his own. He honed his sales technique while selling Afflack insurance, and he learned all about marketing and distribution during his time at a non-profit. So the preparation was all there when he had his Eureka moment when a friend made him his first whole coconut smoothie. He seized the opportunity and turned a simple healthy smoothie into a nationwide brand.
Listen in as we cover everything from the difficulties of having to kick out a partner who is also a friend, the importance of recognizing your own limitations and hiring people who complement your strengths, and why the fourth time was the charm when it came to getting on Shark Tank.
#0101 - Farm Cup Coffee - New Storefront Announced!
Today’s guests are Emerson Haro and Tony Yuan, co-founders of Farm Cup Coffee and co-inhabiters with us in our new space at 7748 Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, CA. Farm Cup and their one-of-a-kind coffee truck Sunny take up the front half, while we record in the space right behind them. So needless to say we all know each other pretty well. In the two years that we’ve been doing this show, no one embodies the spirit of Startup to Storefront more than these guys. Aside from literally going from startup to an actual storefront, they pour their heart and soul into their business and it shows.
Our first conversation with them was episode 17, and we’re thrilled that we could catch up with them again and talk about just how far they’ve come since then. Listen in as we cover everything from how Emerson’s initial drawings for Sunny were completely impractical, how they fought through low customer turnout last year, and they recount the most disastrous pitch meeting imaginable.
#0100 - Fōnuts - Nancy Truman and Thom Furtado
Today is our 100th episode! It’s also the first time we’ve hosted a guest in our brand new podcast studio. We can’t think of a sweeter way to celebrate this milestone than with some doughnuts. So with that being said, today’s guests are Thom Furtado and Nancy Truman, the couple behind the LA sensation Fōnuts. Those that know Los Angeles know that LA is a doughnut-loving city. There are many, many places that satisfy your sweet tooth, but a few rise above the rest. Fōnuts has made a name for itself not only in the quality and taste of their doughnut, but by making all of their creations gluten-free as well. They’ve come to our brand new studio today to tell us all about how they became the creators of the enlightened doughnut.
Listen in as we cover everything from their plans to become a national brand through franchising, why Nancy doesn’t like to lead with gluten-free when asked “what’s a fōnut?”, and why the biggest struggle in running their business has always been hiring quality employees.
