Kate Ryder grew up surrounded by entrepreneurs – her father and grandparents on both sides of the family started their own businesses and set the stage for Kate’s future career. When she graduated from college, Kate dreamed of becoming a writer. She made her way through the journalism network, landing jobs at the New Yorker, writing for Hank Paulson, and eventually at the Economist, where she spent 2.5 years traveling and reporting for the prestigious magazine. With the goal of eventually launching her own venture, Kate moved on to become an early stage investor at Index Ventures. Recognizing that the women’s healthcare market is incredibly underserved, Kate started Maven, a digital clinic for women that connects patients with healthcare practitioners anywhere, anytime. Kate has been building Maven since April 2015 and has expanded to same day prescription services and Maven Maternity, which helps and supports women from pregnancy through childbirth, postpartum, and returning to the workplace. We’re proud to celebrate all that Kate and Maven are doing for women on International Women’s Day. Show your support by listening to this incredible story and sharing the interview with all of the women (and men) you admire and respect!
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Greg Behrman kicked off his career with a stint at Goldman Sachs before penning the book, The Invisible People, about the global AIDS pandemic. His early success as an author led him to an opportunity to work at the State Department with General David Petraeus in Iraq, advising on strategy to advance American relations with the Muslim world. When Greg returned from Iraq he started NationSwell, a digital media company focused on American innovation and renewal — identifying and profiling social innovators who are developing impactful ways to solve America’s most critical issues. Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how Greg and the NationSwell team (of only 20!) are working hard to do justice to stories that will inform and inspire action.
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When Dan Bloom found himself on the wait list for the fellowship in VFA’s early days, he set his calendar to remind him to email the COO every week to express his passion for the program. Dan’s persistence paid off when he was invited to join the first class of 2012 and got a job at a startup in Cincinnati. In the two years+ that he spent in the city, Dan saw Cincinnati transform and thrive, solidifying his love for his second home. One day Dan received a call from a fellow Fellow, Brian Bosche, who approached him with a business idea that would bring them into the video space. Their original model, which involved renting GoPro cameras to customers and creating their videos, morphed into Slope, a collaboration, workflow, and review and approval tool for producing business content. Dan and Brian were accepted into the Microsoft Ventures accelerator and have been on quite the journey as new founders. Listen to this week’s episode to hear more about a VFA Fellow founded business and how they are going from the little league to the big leagues of software.
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You might recognize Megan from the interview she did last year about her startup studio, Human Ventures. The very model Megan created for the studio worked for her own idea and today she is working with Sam Gimbel on Clark, an AI assistant for tutors. Megan and Sam were introduced by a mutual friend who realized they were both working on similar projects in the education space. Sam had a tech background but no market for his idea. Megan had the market but was working on her idea through very manual work. Together they made the perfect team. Today they are building a tool for tutors to help them do their jobs sustainably without the headache of administrative work. Whether it’s handling payment, scheduling, or communication with clients, Megan and Sam have spent the last year serving as personal assistants to educators in order to understand the market and grow their product. Check out this week’s episode to learn more about how Clark is poised to transform the private tutoring space and help educators celebrate their side hustles.
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A few months ago we heard from Charlie Kroll about his career and his new venture. This week he joins us again with his co-founder, Sallie Krawcheck, to talk about Ellevest, a company that is redefining investing for women. When Sallie first conceived of the idea for Ellevest she had no desire to bring on a co-founder. When a few people in her network encouraged Sallie to meet with Charlie, she was doubtful that the connection would be fruitful. What she found in Charlie was someone who understood the fintech and startup space and, in her own words, is a stress absorber. Operating with the understanding that the lack of appropriate product offerings are the reason women invest less than men, Sallie and Charlie have set out to have an impact on women and their families by trying to level the financial playing field. Download this week’s episode to learn more about this dynamic duo and why the gender investing gap costs everyone, not just women.
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Andrew Lowenthal began his career in government with the New York Department of Education, where he learned the vital importance of teaching young people about morality and ethics as early in their education as possible. His passion for social change brought him to Out in Tech, the non-profit that unites the LGBTQ and tech communities. As Executive Director, Andrew’s overseen the election of Out in Tech’s first female president, innovative initiatives to give voices to voiceless LGBTQ people in developing countries, and much more. Tune into this week’s episode to hear how Andrew and Out in Tech are helping LGBTQ students visualize themselves as the tech leaders of tomorrow.
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Toby graduated from Georgetown University with plans to work in government and, one day, become Secretary of State. After a change of heart, and as a very audacious 22 year old, Toby landed himself an internship at Gilt by knocking on doors and requesting coffee meetings with anyone who would give him their time. At the end of his internship, with no permanent spot of the Gilt team available, Toby took a job in the warehouse cataloguing every item sold by Gilt Man. Eventually he made a jump over to the Gilt City team and made his way up the ladder to become the Manager of Strategy & Business Development. After leaving Gilt, Toby spent some time at other startups before joining the Pager, an on-demand service that connects patients with healthcare in their home, office or hotel. Today Pager is growing rapidly and attempting to transform our healthcare system for the better. Listen to this week’s interview to hear all about Toby’s career and how Pager is investing in AI to streamline the way we consume healthcare.
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Nancy Lublin feels very strongly about law school – “it’s where ideas go to die”. Yet NYU Law School is exactly where she came up with the idea for Dress for Success, now a global nonprofit that promotes the economic independence of women by providing professional attire and career support. When Nancy turned 30 and Dress for Success was thriving, she left to join DoSomething.org to help them survive at a time when their existence was touch and go. While at DoSomething.org Nancy’s team began using text messages to reach their constituents. Unexpectedly people began texting back about their personal problems, some of which were very harrowing. After receiving a particularly harrowing message from a young woman, Nancy conceived the idea for Crisis Text Line which provides free crisis intervention via text message 24 hours a day every day. According to Nancy, Crisis Text Line is more than a nonprofit- it’s a tech company problem solving through products, not people. Today, Crisis Text Line engages with thousands of crisis counselors and has fielded tens of millions of text messages since 2013. Tune in this week to learn how Crisis Text Line is using AI to help people in need.
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Ben Uyeda has always been a builder. From building swords out of car suspension leaf springs as a child to starting an architecture firm directly out of college, his passion for design has been motivated by necessity and accessibility. Ben’s first company, Free Green, creates free energy-efficient house plans and HomeMade Modern, his DIY resource for homemade furniture, gives the average person the skills to build something of their own. When he’s not creating businesses, Ben’s a teacher at Northeastern University, a real estate developer, a startup advisor, and much more. Tune into this week’s episode to hear how Ben created such a thoughtfully and personally driven career path and how he almost went into martial arts full-time.
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Martin Keen comes from a long line of craftsman. Martin’s father was known to build furniture and both his father and grandfather made shoes. It is no surprise that Martin followed in their footsteps. After going to industrial design school and experiencing many injuries in a sailboat, Martin designed a sandal with protective toe gear for sailors. His successful design led to the creation of Keen Footwear, a company that still exists today. While Martin was working as a designer and a consultant for other companies, he realized that his creativity suffered when he was sedentary. He began tinkering in his barn and built an upright seat device that kept him energized by correcting his posture. The first prototype was created in 1995 but Martin didn’t launch Focal Upright until 2012. Today Martin and his wife, Mary (who appears as a surprise guest in this episode!), continue to build Focal Upright Furniture with the help of Venture for America Fellows. In total, Focal has hired 6 Fellows and continues to be an amazing partner to VFA. Tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about Martin’s journey from shoe designer to furniture designer and why standing isn’t the answer.
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This week Jeremy sits down with Jon Stein, Founder & CEO of Betterment, an automated investing service that helps clients better manage and grow their wealth through smarter technology for a fraction of the cost of traditional financial services. Download this week’s episode to hear Jon’s journey as a Columbia Business School grad passionate about using technology to better align customers with their financial institutions and why the New York Times named Betterment one of the next “startup unicorns”.
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Ellen is a remarkable young woman who spotted a problem in her home country, Malawi; women have fewer opportunities for education which limits their employment opportunities and keeps them homebound for most of their adult lives. Inspired by one of Mohammed Yunus’s books, and the example her mother had set as an evolving entrepreneur, Ellen knew she wanted to help Malawian women to start their own businesses. After attending the Global Changemakers Global Youth Summit at just 18 years old, Ellen raised enough money to start Tiwale. Tiwale began as a microloan program and has grown into a center for entrepreneurship for women in Malawi. Today Ellen is finishing her senior year at Mount Holyoke College while managing Tiwale from afar and setting up her team for long term sustainability. Download this week’s podcast to hear Ellen’s remarkable story and what happened when she presented famous musician, Bono, with an award that he gave right back to her.
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