#0187 - How to Build a Distinct Brand: Leadership (ft. Founders of Lettuce Grow, Sweet Loren's and Alpha A) 1 of 3

Approximately 20% of businesses fail in the first year, and around 50% go under in the first 5 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The companies that survive do so by navigating setbacks and creating a culture with effective leadership. They build a distinct brand. This is part 1 of a 3-part BrightLive podcast series where we break down how to build a distinct brand. In this episode, we are focusing on leadership and all that goes into becoming an effective leader. On the panel, we have Jacob Pechenick, the founder of Lettuce Grow, Manu Seve, the founder of Alphaa.io, and Loren Brill-Castle, the founder of Sweet Loren’s. In this segment of the series we discuss:

• Quiet quitting

• Navigating the hiring process

• Doing personality tests with investors only to have them back out on Christmas Eve

#0186 - Michael Allison - The Play Zone 🎾

What separates the world’s top athletes is not training, determination, or endurance. It is how they react to stress and pressure in the game. And this isn’t a simple mindset shift. It’s bigger than that. We are talking about how their nervous system responds to the unknown and unfamiliar. The longest nerve in our bodies is called the Polyvagal Nerve, and it’s responsible for instigating our fight or flight reflex, among other things. Our guest today, Michael Allison, has become an expert in how this nerve affects our performance in everything from public speaking to athletic competitions. Through this, he has developed The Play Zone, where he works with coaches to help athletes manage their physiology when it matters most. In this episode we discuss:

• what western swing dancers have in common with tennis doubles partners

• how to recognize when our bodies are in a suboptimal state and regain control in order to perform at our best

• And the application of Polyvagal Theory in helping entrepreneurs make better game-time decisions.

#0185 - Taylor & Casey - Cakes Body (Viral TikTok Brand)

NFO. Nipple Freak Out. If you know, you know. In response, Cakes Body has created the world’s first, grippy, not sticky nipple covers. They grip using your body’s natural heat and have no annoying stick adhesives. It’s a real problem all women deal with. So when they began sharing the products on TikTok, videos started to take off. They sold out of their entire inventory after 1 viral video. And then it happened again, again, and again. The founders had tapped into something much larger than just silicone nipple covers. Today we talk with Olivia, Taylor, and Casey, the owners of Cakes Body. We discuss:

• How Cakes Body is more of a movement than a company

• How they’ve built a community of Hype Girls

• How TikTok drives 90% of their sales

Without further adieu, meet Cakes Body.

#0184 - Leveraging Social Media - A Masterclass from our past guests

We have a special episode for you this week. We’re living in the attention economy. Every day, we are bombarded with nonstop notifications, advertisements, and emails. Since every company is competing for their customer’s attention, big brands dump large amounts of money into paid ads to hack the system. But we’re going to let you in on a little secret. Sponsored posts on social media don’t hit like they did a couple of years ago. Apps like TikTok have leveled the playing field. We’ve had TikTok videos organically reach 1 million views in 24hrs, and when the client wakes up in the morning, they have tons of orders that came as a result of those videos waiting to be packed. Small brands don’t have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on ads. The playing field has officially been leveled. So this begs the question, “what do you post on TikTok or Instagram to see this same success?” In this episode, we are doing a look back on past episodes to dissect what works, and what doesn’t work so you can cash in on this attention economy.

#0183 - Max Berg - ELIQS/Barrel Labs

In business school, it’s common for college professors to assign semester-long projects where students have to start a business. And to be honest, most students never take this project beyond the final grade. However, Max Berg and his classmate Dave Goldman took this assignment and ran with it. In a world where you can literally customize everything, they couldn’t help but ask, “why can’t you create customized beer cans”? After all, that’s what everyone’s drinking in college. After creating custom cans for their families’ Thanksgiving dinner, their families, especially the grandparents, just couldn’t get enough. Heck, one grandparent was even stashing them away to hold onto the memory. That’s when they realized the concept of custom can labels had staying power beyond the classroom. Today we are talking with Max, co-founder of ELIQS, a company that creates customizable beverages made for the moment. We discuss:

• Why custom drinks pair so well with weddings

• How they started by soaking Trader Joe’s beer bottles in bathtubs

• And their partnerships with everyone from individuals to businesses including Mischief

#0182 - The Science of Stuck (book) - Britt Frank

In today’s episode, we are unpacking the science of how to get unstuck. It’s no coincidence that that’s also the title of the book written by our guest today: author, psychotherapist, and trauma specialist, Britt Frank. Britt knows a thing or two about getting unstuck, as she has battled everything from meth addiction to sexual abuse. She emerged from that trauma with a new outlook on life, a Master of Social Work degree, and a desire to help others overcome their own hurdles. These hurdles vary from individual to individual, but when it comes to entrepreneurship, it’s not uncommon for someone to put up a mental blockade that prevents them from moving forward. Getting over this mental blockade that inhibits you from progressing forward is what we are dissecting today. In today’s episode we discuss:

• why you don’t need every friend to be a best friend

• How Covid didn’t create a mental health crisis, it just exposed the one we already had

• The power behind changing your why’s to whats.

So roll up your sleeves and let’s start the process of getting unstuck. Order your copy today!

#0181 - Night Cap - Shirah Benarde (as seen on Shark Tank)

1 in 3 women has either had their drink spiked or knows someone who has according to a 2021 YouGov survey. It’s a serious problem that disproportionately harms college students. That is until Shirah Benarde invented NightCap. Covering the top of the glass makes it a lot harder for someone to spike your drink. Since its launch, the company has taken the world by storm. NightCap has 422k followers on TikTok, and while on Shark Tank they landed a deal with Lori Greiner in record time. In this episode, we speak with Shirah Benarde, the co-founder of NightCap.

We discuss:

• Going viral on TikTok

• Their Shark Tank Experience

• What it was like going to the Shark Tank reunion in Vegas

#0180 - Haven's Kitchen - Alison Cayne

Business is like basketball. It’s all about the pivot. And Alison Cayne, founder of Haven’s Kitchen, is no stranger to the game. Haven’s Kitchen was founded on the mission of empowering home cooks. The first iteration began with cooking cours.es. Then, it grew into a café and events held in their New York City kitchen. But over and over, she kept getting the same feedback. Everyone loved the sauces, but no one had the time to make them. And from there, ready-made sauces were born. In this episode we spoke with Alison Cayne, founder of Haven’s Kitchen, about:

• Her experience going through the Chobani incubator program

• The problems with the How I Built This podcast

• Shy she wants to be the fairy godmother of CPG

We hope you’re ready. This podcast episode is filled with some crazy flavor and spice.

#0179 - Gentefy - Barney Santos

Change is constant. It’s inevitable. But it doesn’t always have to be bad.

Gentefiers aren’t strangers to the neighborhood. They are from the community, and they are trying to build up the community that is near and dear to their hearts.

From gentefication, we get Gentefy (hen-teh-fi), a development company founded by Barney Santos.

The goal is to act as a catalyst to stimulate economic growth through entrepreneurial activities.

Their first project is BLVD MRKT, a carefully curated food hall in beautiful Downtown Montebello. It’s committed to serving up good food, good drinks, and good vibes.

In this episode, we talk with Barney Santos about:

• The difference between gentrification and gentefication

• Keeping money local

• And being greater than the sum of the stereotypes as a community

This marks our final episode celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, so let’s go out with a bang.

#0178 - SUYO Pisco - Alex Hildebrandt

Pisco is the best kind of brandy that I bet you’ve never heard of. It all starts in the vineyards in Peru. The grapes are picked, pressed, and fermented to create this delicious spirit. Peruvian Pisco is so pure that not even one drop of water will ever touch the inside of the bottle. This liquor is never cut with sulfates or additives, and let me tell ya, you can definitely taste the quality. In this episode, we talk with Alex Hildebrandt, co-founder of SUYO Pisco about:

• Using the playbook that Tequila and Mezcal brands created

• The feud between Peru and Chile over Pisco

Get ready, you are about to discover the world of Single Origin Pisco.

#0177 - Avenida Productions - Fanny & Nelson Grande

Hollywood does not treat all filmmakers equally. Despite being a critically acclaimed director, Fanny Grande found it extremely difficult to find funding for her movies. The major studios saw Latino movies as a niche market with very little broad appeal. That’s why Fanny and her husband, Nelson Grande, founded Avenida Productions, a movie studio in the heart of LA. They are providing equal opportunity to filmmakers to fund, film, and distribute their next big hit. In this episode, we spoke with both Nelson and Fanny Grande about:

• Why crowdfunding campaigns fail

• Why Fanny is the top crowdfunding coach for creatives across the country

• Why they created their own streaming service

Grab your popcorn, and please take a seat. The movie will be starting soon.

#0176 - Tia Lupita - Hector Saldivar

There is nothing better than a home-cooked meal. As the pan simmers, the tantalizing aromas fill the air, and everyone’s taste buds begin to salivate in excitement. For Hector Saldivar, the founder of Tia Lupita, sharing his family’s hot sauce is akin to welcoming you into his kitchen for a home-cooked meal. In Latin American culture, and others, family recipes are passed down from generation to generation. Hector, with his mother’s blessing, has taken her hot sauce and bottled it for everyone to enjoy. Some recipes are just too good not to share with the world. Tia Lupita sells cactus chips, grain-free tortillas, and the best hot sauce on the market. Listen in as we discuss:

• How Hector convinced his mom to let him commercialize their secret family hot sauce recipe

• Why the large Hispanic brands are out of touch with today’s consumer

• And Border Patrol agents questioning the increasingly large amounts of home-cooked hot sauce being brought over the Mexico/American border

And thank you to Cat Footwear for sponsoring this episode. They are a premier shoe company that empowers builders and doers, to reframe the world to create something more meaningful.

#0175 - Justina Machado

According to the 2020 UCLA “Hollywood Diversity Report”, Latinos made up 18% of the population, yet received only 4.6% of movie roles in 2019. To put it simply, even though Latinos make up almost a fifth of the population, there’s a massive gap in representation on the silver screen. There is, however, a growing movement within the industry to change that. Today we have the pleasure of talking to a leader of this movement, actress Justina Machado. You might recognize her from her roles in Jane the Virgin, Six Feet Under, or even Dancing with the Stars. In this episode, we discuss:

• why she didn’t call herself an actress until she moved to LA

• Why she didn’t feel financially stable until she was 40

• The outrage the Latino community felt when James Franco was cast as Fidel Castro

Quiet on set, we are rolling in 3, 2, 1 …

#0174 - Swing Vision 🎾 Swupnil Sahai

Swing Vision started as an app that leveraged the Apple Watch to help tennis players improve their game. Players could now track swing movements, hits, and scores. But after working at Tesla, Swupnil Sahai, the co-founder of Swing Vision, realized there was a lot more they could do with this simple idea. By mounting an iPhone on a court, and through motion tracking within the app, that can now offer:

• Automated scoring

• Line calling

• Recorded match highlights

• And so much more.

In this episode we talked about the impact of having Swing Vision featured on the Apple Keynote, coaching players with AI, and last, between you and me, we also talked about Diego paying a little extra to have the speed of his serves register faster than they actually are.