#0159 - Las Maris Vegan - Carlos Bryant

Eat your own dog food. It’s a simple phrase designed to convey the notion that if your product is good enough for your consumers, it’s good enough for you too. For Carlos Bryant, founder of Las Maris vegan food truck, his initial menu didn’t fit with his diet. Las Maris wasn’t always vegan, and when customers would ask how the food tasted, all he could offer were referrals to other people. Let’s just say it didn’t exactly inspire confidence. But Carlos was quick to recognize the dissonance and soon made the switch to vegan offerings. The rebranded food truck was a much more authentic and personal venture, one that allowed him to combine his startup with his virtues. What followed could be considered a runaway Sacramento success story, but Carlos has plans for expansion far beyond a single food truck in a single metropolitan area.

Listen in as we cover everything from the problems of scaling your business too quickly, how his rap career instilled in him the grit that he’d later use in entrepreneurship, and why life is like a game of Twister.

#0158 - Leisuretown - Doug Walker and Jon Feld

If you were to set out to cut your caloric intake today, odds are pretty high that your mind would immediately go to what food groups you could swap out or substitute. But what about swapping out or replacing the beverages you consume on a daily basis? Lower calorie beverages are certainly nothing new, like diet and zero-calorie options have been staples of everything from Pepsi to Gatorade to Michelob for decades now. There are some though that are betting big that consumers are becoming bored with those antiquated options. Our guests today are Doug Walker and Jon Feld of Leisuretown, a CBD-infused sparkling water company. They’ve positioned themselves at a significant intersection of wellness, CBD, and non-alcoholic alternatives. Their immediate goal is to be the cool drink to consume at parties without any caloric or inebriated side effects. Their long-term goal has their sights set much, much higher. You don’t have to take my word for it though, as we’re about to dive into the deep end with Doug and Jon.

Listen in as we cover everything from why they got dropped from all major online payment processors in a span of three days, how they turned to NFTs in order to sell and market their drinks, and why Doug is currently running for Mayor of West Sacramento.

#0157 - Fuel Finance - Alyona Mysko

On Thursday, February 24th, Russian military forces crossed the border into Ukraine and ended a peace that had existed in Europe since World War II. The war in Ukraine has, among many other tragedies, created a massive humanitarian crisis with the millions and millions of Ukrainian citizens that have fled the country in search of safety. For those that have stayed, daily life has been completely upended and their future was thrown into uncertainty. But there are still plenty of Ukrainians trying to carve out a living and maintain a sense of normalcy amidst the invasion. Our guest today is Alyona Mysko, founder of FuelFinance, a cloud-based financial service based in Ukraine. Alyona has relocated her headquarters from Kyiv to Lviv in order to avoid the worst of the assault, but she still finds herself being woken up by the sounds of air raid sirens.

Listen in to this special episode as we cover everything from what it’s like to run a company in a country at war, the decision to stay in Ukraine versus fleeing, and her plans for both the short term and long term as the war drags on.

#0156 - Lil Bucks - Emily Griffith

Scaling a business and cementing your place in an emerging market is a special kind of struggle. While you’re busy building your own brand you’ve also got to be busy educating consumers about the market’s very existence. The appeal of all of this is of course if and when consumer trends shift, any company with a foothold sees massive growth and all the rewards that come with it. One needs to look no further than Tesla to see how proper timing and a few lucky breaks can launch a small startup into a Fortune 100 company. Our guest today is Emily Griffith, founder of Lil Bucks, and the emerging marketplace in question is centered all-around buckwheat. Buckwheat is a familiar dietary staple in other cultures around the world, but when it comes to America it’s still in its infancy. Buckwheat is naturally packed full of nutrients and antioxidants while at the same time being gluten-free since it’s a fruit seed and not a grain. So in following recent superfood trends, it checks a lot of the same boxes. The ability to educate and appeal to a mass audience will be the difference between ending up like Tesla or Fisker.

Listen in as we cover everything from why consumers don’t want to sacrifice taste for health, why she focused on building her brand before building her business, and how she owes her success to getting on the shelves of Whole Foods to a cleaning lady.

#0155 - Partake Brewing - Ted Fleming

It wasn’t very long ago that we as a society were told that a small amount of alcohol—say, a glass of wine with dinner—could be beneficial for our cardiovascular health. But a recent study from the World Heart Federation has turned that notion upside down, saying that any amount of drinking alcohol can contribute to the loss of a healthy life. So what are we to do with this new information? Sure, there are plenty who will ignore it, but national trends show a shift in drinking habits. No and low alcoholic beverage sales have increased 33% in the past year, with the non-alcoholic beverage category predicted to grow by another 35% this year. In other words, the future looks bright for Ted Fleming of Partake Brewing. Partake is a non-alcoholic brewing company, and Ted has been ahead of the curve for a while now, winning over the taste buds of casual beer drinkers and professional critics alike. But there’s still a lot of work left to do, as there is still a very real stigma about non-alcoholic beer and massive companies with vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

Listen in as we cover everything from why alcoholic breweries see Partake as a threat to their business, what the design of Ted’s ideal brewery would look like, and taking his bike to appear on Dragon’s Den—and getting caught in the rain.

#0154 - Chili Chews - Shant and Vicken

Remember when we were all making sourdough bread to pass the time during lockdown? Our guests today were also cooking something up in their kitchen, but it was much sweeter and designed to be more of a long-term play than a short-term way to occupy their time. Shant Reganyan and Vicken Kejejian were fulfilling a long-time mission to start a business together. And with the coronavirus pandemic upending everyone’s best-laid plans, there really was no better time to take that first step. So the two childhood friends created their own candy. They mixed together a blend of spices, developed a base, put ‘em together, and called it Chili Chews. And after testing their recipe on friends and family, they set their sights on making the grocery store candy aisle exciting again.

Listen in as we cover everything from why they chose a name that was purposefully vague, running into discrimination from those who thought they were too young to be taken seriously, and why their candy tastes like the San Fernando Valley — in all the best ways.

#0153 - Drink Champs - DJ EFN

Last week we had a session on Bright Live with DJ EFN of Drink Champs. His career has taken him everywhere from mixtapes and music marketing to podcasting and documentary filmmaking. The best part about Bright Live is the ability to have audience participation in the conversation. They host a variety of sessions on just about any topic you’d be interested in, and it’s a great place for curious minds to grow and learn from some of the best in their respective fields. We’re releasing a condensed version of this conversation, but if you want to learn more about what sessions are being offered, you should head on over to BrightLive.com.

Listen in as we cover everything from why DJ EFN’s not interested in being a journalist, how he was inspired by his father to blaze his own trail even though the two have never had a close relationship, and why Ice Cube was the only guest that ever made him nervous.

#0152 - Ventum - Diaa Nour

You probably don’t have to think too hard to recall the early days of the coronavirus lockdowns. When all we wanted was an excuse to get out of our homes, bikes became that excuse. You could head out your front door and get some exercise while maintaining your social distance. It was the perfect pandemic escape. And so it was no big surprise when bike sales skyrocketed. One would think that it would be a great time to be in the cycling business. Instead, a global economy dealing with supply chain delays, factory shutdowns, and parts shortages meant that there was no supply to meet the demand. Not exactly what any business owner would call ideal. Our guest today is Diaa Nour, founder of Ventum, a direct-to-consumer bike brand out of Heber City, Utah. Ventum first burst onto the scene with their triathlon bike, turning heads with its signature Z-shaped frame. From there they quickly expanded their lineup to include road and gravel bikes to mirror national trends. Diaa has big plans on the horizon for Ventum, but before he can accomplish those goals he’s got to maneuver around the global supply chain backup just like the rest of us.

Listen in as we cover everything from why starting a bike company was way more difficult than he initially assumed, why he prioritized sponsoring female triathletes in an effort to level the gender wage gap between men and women, and why he chose to partner the brand with perhaps the most polarizing figure in cycling, Lance Armstrong.

#0151 - Brainiac Foods - Mark Brooks

Parents will always want what’s best for their children. Many go to great lengths to give their child just the tiniest leg up if that will mean success down the line. Whether that be after-school tutoring, private music lessons, or waking up at 5am on a Saturday morning to drive your kid to practice, it’s not difficult to find examples of parents making their child’s development a priority. But what about that child’s nutrition? Our guest today is Mark Brooks, co-founder of Brainiac Foods. Mark, together with his co-founder Jonathan Wolfson, found that certain nutrients were essential to early brain development; notably choline and omega-3. The problem is, it’s not always easy to get your child to ingest foods that contain these nutrients. So the two founders decided to put a twist on a product that was already a hit in school lunchboxes: yogurt. By adding choline and omega-3 to yogurt they were able to support early-childhood brain development without asking parents (or kids) to sacrifice taste for growth.

Listen in as we cover everything from why they’re not trying to be the #1 applesauce company, why food is the first line of defense when it comes to healthcare, and why it’s not nutritious if it’s not eaten.

#0150 - Van Leeuwen - Ben Van Leeuwen

If you were born before a certain point in time, hearing about a Good Humour ice cream truck might conjure up nostalgic memories of a carefree summer. Younger generations might be more familiar with Good Humour products found in the freezer section of grocery stores all over the country. This is the story of how a single ice cream truck grew into a chain with national distribution, but it is not the Good Humour story. Our guest today is Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder of Van Leeuwen ice cream. Ben’s first experience with ice cream came from working in one of those Good Humour ice cream trucks, and his tale parallels theirs in many ways. He eventually branched off and created his own ice cream, selling it out of a truck on the streets of New York City before expanding into storefronts and grocery chains nationwide.But in order to get the full story you’ll have to listen in as we cover everything from why his vision for the company was massive from the get-go, the importance of mentorship, and why making good ice cream isn’t rocket science.

#0149 - Katy Flannery - Beckon Ice Cream

The prevalence of gluten-free food options is no accident. Manufacturers saw that there was a sizable portion of the population who wanted foods that wouldn’t wreak havoc on their digestive systems and they responded. To a lesser extent, the same is true for foods catering to the lactose-intolerant among us, but the latter hasn’t quite reached the level of the former. There are all sorts of statistics that contradict each other on how many Americans are actually affected by lactose intolerance, but the gist is the same: it’s a sizable portion of the population. Our guest today is Katy Flannery, co-founder of Beckon Ice Cream. As someone who suffers from lactose intolerance, she knows firsthand how frustrating it can be to crave a food that you know would not be in your best interest to eat. So she and her co-founder Gwen created an ice cream that seemingly does the impossible: is full of dairy but without the problematic lactose.

Listen in as we cover everything from how she kept a photo of Tom Brady from his time at the NFL combine on her desk to inspire her, the importance of knowing when to kick in a door vs finding another one, why they were told to bring on a male co-founder when they started to raise capital (and why they ignored that advice).

#0148 - Stefanie Olson - SheBuilds

Our guest today is Stefanie Olson, founder of SheBuilds. What started out as flipping a single house has turned into a career spent renovating, flipping, and building new properties from the ground up. SheBuilds now tackles entire housing developments, most notably for the town of Paradise, California. In 2018, the Camp Fire raged through Paradise, destroying 95% of its structures and killing 85 people. To this day it remains the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history. Stefanie has been a big part of the rebuilding process, helping those who were displaced by the disaster a chance to call Paradise home once more.

Listen in as we cover everything from how she used to go so far as hopping backyard fences to scope out potential flips, why she’ll never sell a house without staging it, and why no one ever leaves enough money in the budget for landscaping.

#0147 - Jennifer Stojkovic - Vegan Women Summit

On some level, we’re probably all familiar with life-changing events. You never know when or where they’ll take place; nor can you predict how you’ll emerge from the ordeal. But we can all look back at our lives and pick out at least one point where our trajectories were forever altered. For Jennifer Stojkovic, one such moment came when a close friend was murdered. As she wrestled with the suffering that comes in the wake of such a tragedy, she set out to erase what suffering she could in this world—she became vegan. But to truly make an impact, changing her own dietary regiment wouldn’t cut it: she needed to create something bigger than herself. And thus, the Vegan Women Summit was born.

But you know by now that there’s always more to the story, so listen in as we cover everything from how lab-grown meat is changing what it means to be vegan, why women don’t invest, and why vegans don’t all fit into the same box.

#0146 - Joan Barton - Dirty Girl Construction

Our guest today is Joan Barton, founder of Dirty Girl Construction. In another life, Joan was a music composer crafting everything from orchestral symphonies to commercial jingles. But when a friend asked her to oversee the construction of his house, she said yes and figured everything out as she went. The ability to create and build a house from the ground up spoke to her in such a way that she switched careers and went into contracting full time, eventually founding her company in 2008. Joan is now at a point where she can look back at her long career and impart the wisdom of someone who’s been around the block a time or two. Hell, at this point she’s basically built the block.

Listen in as we cover everything from how being a waitress helped her market her company, how the construction industry enabled her to avoid selling out, and why she considers her plumber to be an artist.