A few weeks ago, Jeremy was vacationing in Manchester, Vermont and stumbled upon some fantastic granola. He ended up chatting with Ingrid and Franklin Chrisco, the husband and wife team that founded the granola company. Not only did Jeremy love the granola, but he also loved their story! For many years both Ingrid and Franklin worked as educators while making pounds of granola on the weekends for their friends and family. In 2006, Ingrid was afraid that she would burn out and decided she needed to take her granola full time to create balance in her life. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear the founding story of True North Granola and get the free code that will give you a discount on any of their delicious products!

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Ever wonder what it takes to build a VC firm? Brad Svrluga and Ben Sun can attest that it is no easy task. On this week’s episode of Smart People Should Build Things, Jeremy catches up with Brad and Ben, the co-founders of Primary Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital fund based in NYC. In 2004, Brad created High Peaks, a venture capital firm focused on making Seed and Series A investments, but re-launched the firm with Ben in 2015 with its new identity: Primary Venture Partners. Being raised by an entrepreneur, Ben already knew that running a small business was extremely hard, but ultimately chose this path because he had an “incredible desire to control his own destiny.” Listen to this week’s episode to hear more about the impact Primary Venture Partners is having on entrepreneurs and to find out what makes this company unique compared to other firms.

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On this week’s episode of Smart People Build Should Build Things, Jeremy speaks with Daniel Chait, co-founder and CEO of Greenhouse, the world’s first recruiting optimization platform. Daniel is not new to entrepreneurship. Since graduating from the University of Michigan in 1995, he has started three companies – each more successful than the last! Daniel started Greenhouse with the goal of unifying technology used in the recruiting process. In only four years, Greenhouse has raised $60 million and hired 180 employees. Tune in to this week’s VFA Podcast to learn more about Daniel Chait’s career and how he has set out to build new capability for the finance industry.

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This week, Jeremy sits down with VFA Alum Steven Mazur, Co-Founder and CEO of Ash & Anvil. Steven dabbled in entrepreneurship at the age of fourteen selling paintball accessories. After completing his two year VFA Fellowship, Steven was eager to found his own company. Searching for company ideas, Steven asked his friends and family what he griped about the most. Their answer – shopping! Many men struggle with finding clothing that fits well. As a 5’6” man himself, Mazur knows the struggle of the “short guy”. Steven and his fellow Fellow alum created Ash & Anvil, a clothing company for men 5’8” and shorter. As a 2013 Fellow, Mazur credits two VFA opportunities (VFA’s Innovation Fund and the Accelerator) with helping him create his company. Listen to this self-proclaimed “math and science nerd” speak about his VFA experience and how he and his co-founder, Eric, have gotten to where they are today.

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